Last year, I read Kimberly McCreight’s Reconstructing Amelia.  I don’t think I ever reviewed it.  I’m not sure why. I loved the book and raved about it to friends, but I never sat down to write a post.  So when a friend who had also enjoyed Reconstructing Amelia said I needed to also read McCreight’s newly released second novel,  Where They Found Her  I promptly downloaded it.

This is the latest in a string of quick reads for me. From the Amazon book summary:

An idyllic suburban town.

A devastating discovery.

Shocking revelations that will change three lives forever.

At the end of a long winter in well-to-do Ridgedale, New Jersey, the body of a newborn is found in the woods fringing the campus of the town’s prestigious university. No one knows the identity of the baby, what ended her very short life, or how she came to be found among the fallen leaves. But for the residents of Ridgedale, there is no shortage of opinions.

When freelance journalist and recent Ridgedale transplant Molly Sanderson is unexpectedly called upon to cover the disturbing news for the Ridgedale Reader—the town’s local paper—she has good reason to hesitate. A severe depression followed the loss of her own baby, and this assignment could unearth memories she has tried hard to bury. But the disturbing history Molly uncovers is not her own. Her investigation reveals a decades-old trail of dark secrets hiding behind Ridgedale’s white picket fences.

Told from the perspectives of three Ridgedale women, Kimberly McCreight’s taut and profoundly moving novel unwinds the tangled truth behind the tragedy, revealing that these women have far more in common than they could ever have imagined: that the very worst crimes are committed against those we love. And that—sooner or later—the past catches up to all of us.

From the outset, I was curious about this story. I knew from Reconstructing Amelia that McCreight would weave an intricate story, providing subtle clues about the characters and their actions. I like sifting through the hints and determining if I can figure out what is really going on. Although a very different writer than Gillian Flynn, McCreight’s novels are in the same vein, so I think anyone who enjoys the complex characters and layers of Flynn’s novels will like McCreight’s storytelling. The characters are not one dimensional, and we see that the face they present may be very different than how they feel internally. We also see that outside actions that seem off-putting can actually be the result of concerned motivation, or just trying to hold it together.  We also learn that people are hiding some very dark secrets.  As the summary says, the past eventually catches up with us.

I liked the twist McCreight provides and I liked that there’s a lot of grey in this story. Life is messy, and this book doesn’t mark all characters as white hats or black hats.

Happy Reading!