Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Harvard librarian Hester Thursby and her boyfriend, Morgan, are left scrambling when Morgan's sister skips town and leaves her toddler, Kate, behind. Hester takes leave from work to care for Kate, but when her side gig finding lost people beckons, she doesn't even consider turning away. Twelve years ago, Lila Blaine's 14-year-old brother, Sam, ran away with his best friend, Gabe DiPursio. Now, Lila wants to sell the family's rural New Hampshire home and needs Hester to find Sam and let him know. With young Kate and her dog, Waffles, in tow, Hester easily tracks Sam and Gabe down in Boston, where Sam has taken the identity of a deceased man, Aaron Gewirtzman, and is dating Wendy Richards, a high-profile Boston heiress. Technically, the case is closed, but Hester's meeting with Gabe's social worker and foster mother raises unsettling flags, and she becomes driven to discover what prompted the teens' flight. Before Hester can gather solid answers, a socialite friend of Wendy's disappears, and Sam and Gabe's latest identities begin to unravel. Hester Thursby is a tough, cerebral, relatably flawed sleuth who lulls herself to sleep with horror films and takes on serial killers and unexpected motherhood without skipping a beat. A dark but compassionate psychological-thriller debut with great appeal for fans of Ruth Ware and Cornelia Read.--Christine Tran Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Harvard librarian Hester Thursby, the heroine of Hill's well-crafted, extremely promising debut and series launch, runs a side business locating lost people. She's hired by Lila Blaine to find her brother, Sam, who ran away from their home in New Hampshire 12 years earlier, when he was 14, with his friend Gabe DiPursio. Lila says she wants to sell a piece of lakefront property called Little Comfort and split the proceeds with Sam. Hester soon discovers that Sam is now living in Boston under an alias and has insinuated himself into the life of wealthy socialite Wendy Richards, while Gabe is supporting them both as a freelance programmer. When someone at a party recognizes Sam, Sam decides it's time to tie up loose ends and move on. Meanwhile, Hester has befriended lonely Gabe, who has built a homey domestic fantasy around her, but Sam views Hester as an obstacle and expects Gabe to help get her out of the way. An increasingly tense plot and striking characters-in particular, compassionate, conflicted, loving Hester-make this a standout. Agent: Robert Guinsler, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A woman who uses her research skills to track down missing people finds herself over her head in a dangerous case.Hester Thursby has taken a leave from her library job at Harvard to help her boyfriend, Morgan, care for Kate, the little daughter of Daphne, his twin sister and Hester's best friend. When she gets a call from Lila Blaine of New Hampshire, who wants her to find Sam, the brother who's been missing for 12 years, she's attracted by the promise of mental stimulation and extra money. Lila gives Hester a stack of postcards from all over the United States, each composed of photos her brother presumably took himself and a single sentence. Sam ran away with Gabe DiPursio, a 14-year-old foster child who was staying with Lila and him at the time. Lila admits the reason she wants to find Sam is because she's selling a valuable piece of lake property. After talking to Gabe's former foster mother and the social worker he had at the time, Hester, using the most recent postcards as clues, discovers that Sam and Gabe are living in Boston, where Sam's posing as Aaron Gewirtzman, a young college graduate who was killed in an accident. She doesn't know that the pair have left a trail of disaster in their wake: Sam has used his charm and good looks to hook up with wealthy women while Gabe uses his computer skills to raise money to tide them over between marks. Sam's currently preoccupied by the wealthy socialite he's dating, but Gabe, who meets Hester when she scopes them out by pretending to be looking for an apartment to rent, becomes totally fixated on her. Real danger threatens Hester when she learns too much about their past and present.Hill's debut is a chilling psychological thriller with an unusual heroine and a page-turning storyline. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
