Harriet avait confié sa fille à sa meilleure amie Charlotte pour un après-midi à la kermesse de l'école. Charlotte est persuadée de n'avoir quitté Alice des yeux qu'une fraction de seconde. Le temps pour la fillette de se volatiliser. Dévastée, Harriet ne peut plus envisager de revoir Charlotte. Elle ne lui fera sans doute plus jamais confiance. Mais elle n'aura pas le choix. Car, deux semaines plus tard, les deux femmes sont convoquées par la police pour être interrogées séparément. Il semblerait que chacune d'elles ait des choses à se reprocher.
Une île.
Une femme.
Des secrets enfouis.
Au large des côtes de l'Angleterre, Evergreen Island abrite une petite communauté qui vit isolée du reste du monde. Lorsqu'un corps est déterré dans le jardin de la maison d'enfance de Stella Harvey, la jeune femme est bouleversée. Surtout que vingt-cinq ans auparavant, un soir de tempête, sa famille a mystérieusement fui les lieux...
Déterminée à découvrir la vérité, Stella retourne sur l'île, mais elle s'aperçoit rapidement que les insulaires ne sont pas aussi accueillants que dans ses souvenirs, et qu'ils sont prêts à tout pour protéger leurs secrets.
Avec une parfaite maîtrise de l'intrigue et un art consommé du suspense, Heidi Perks restitue l'ambiance étouffante qui plane depuis des années sur Evergreen Island, manipulant le lecteur jusqu'à la dernière ligne.
____________________________ She was your responsibility. And now she's missing.
'I flew through this book in three days, with my heart in my mouth' Lisa Jewell 'Believe us when we say this novel is the real deal' Heat 'A gripping tale of friendship and deceit, where nothing is what it seems' Laura Marshall ____________________________ Charlotte is looking after her best friend's daughter the day she disappears. She thought the little girl was playing with her own children. She swears she only took her eyes off them for a second.
Now, Charlotte must do the unthinkable: tell her best friend Harriet that her only child is missing. The child she was meant to be watching.
Devastated, Harriet can no longer bear to see Charlotte. No one could expect her to trust her friend again.
Only now she needs to. Because two weeks later Harriet and Charlotte are both being questioned separately by the police. And secrets are about to surface.
Someone is hiding the truth about what really happened to Alice.
Unputdownable psychological suspense from an exciting new talent, perfect for fans of Shari Lapena's THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR and Claire Mackintosh's I LET YOU GO.
____________________________ What everyone's saying about 'the best book of the summer':
'Totally hooked from the first page. Such an accomplished thriller!' Amy Lloyd, author of The Innocent Wife 'I couldn't turn the pages fast enough' - Lynn on Goodreads, 5 stars 'Absolutely brilliant. Couldn't put this book down. Right from the very start you are gripped' - Lindsey on NetGalley, 5 stars 'A chilling tale of friendships, deceit, manipulation and secrets that had me hooked in from the very first page.' - Nicki on Goodreads, 5 stars 'such a gripping story that I read the rest of the book in one sitting. I just had to know what was going to happen' - Lynn on Goodreads, 5 stars 'I read this book in one tension-filled evening and couldn't go to bed until I knew how it ended.' - Jenny Blackhurst, author of The Foster Child and How I Lost You 'An intense, chilling read that kept me gripped throughout' - Shirley on Goodreads, 5 stars 'Loved the female friendships and the constant twists and turns - a definite must-read for summer!' - Hollie Overton, author of Baby Doll and The Walls 'Heidi Perks writes with an instinctive knowledge of how to keep the reader enthralled' - Liz on Goodreads 'This is a taut thriller that reads like a TV drama in-the-making. It'll make you wary of those around you, past and present.' - Gem on Goodreads 'Brilliant book to have for summer reading' - Melita on Goodreads, 5 stars
A tiny community is rocked by the discovery of a long-buried body. For Stella Harvey the news is doubly shocking. The body has been found in the garden of her childhood home - the home her family fled without explanation twenty-five years ago. Now, questioning her past and desperate to unearth the truth, Stella returns to the isolated island.
