The five year lie

Fans of Bowen's contemporary romances (Him; I'm Your Guy) will find exactly what they came for in her latest romantic thriller. Bowen's website offers a "find a book by its trope" feature; this one could fall in the "he isn't who he says he is," "single moms," or "workplace romance" categories. Ariel Cafferty is the mother of an adorable, somewhat shy four-year old, Buzz. She works as an office manager at Chime Co., the tech company founded by her uncle and her late father, which designs and markets home surveillance cameras. Ariel would much rather be pursuing a career as a glass artist, but after she was ghosted by handsome Chime Co. programmer Drew Miller five years before, she found herself pregnant and now has Buzz to consider--but she can't stop thinking about Drew and their passionate connection, his disappearance remains a mystery. Then Ariel gets a bizarre text message, purportedly from Drew. Did he discover something while working at Chime Co. that put him in danger? Are Ariel and Buzz in danger now? Who is watching them, and why? VERDICT The questions mount in this techno-thriller lite that doesn't require any heavy lifting but will have readers wondering who's watching their doorbell cams.--Christine Perkins

A single mother fights to unravel her lover's mysterious disappearance and expose a deadly secret. Bowen is best known for her contemporary romance novels, but she takes a confident step into the thriller genre with this engaging debut, which combines a fast pace and an intriguing plot with pointed commentary on the way useful technology can easily create a dangerous privacy nightmare. The story focuses on Ariel Cafferty, a single mother in Portland, Maine, who works for Chime, the maker of a high-tech video doorbell. The company was created by her uncle and father, but her father's sudden death left her uncle in charge. Ariel is the office manager--her real passion is the artistic pursuit of blowing glass--but the job is flexible enough to allow her to spend time with her young son, Buzz. Then she gets an alarming text--"There's trouble. I need to see you"--from a man she was sure was dead: Drew Miller, Buzz's father, who also worked at Chime and with whom she'd had a passionate affair. Then he vanished, never knowing they had a son. The desperate text sets Ariel on a dangerous course into a deeper investigation of Drew's disappearance, Chime's troubling relationship with law enforcement, and maybe even her father's death. Told largely through dialogue, the novel propels readers swiftly through the story, and Bowen never gets too bogged down in technical details. She adds just enough love and longing into the mix to please her romance-minded fans without scaring off the hardcore thriller addicts. An engaging and fast-paced thriller about the abuse of technology. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.