Wow! Another great book from Mary Kubica, who wrote Local Woman Missing! She’s Not Sorry starts with a bang.
Meghan is in the city shopping when she receives a call from a man who has her daughter, Sienna. Who is it?
Rewind to a previous time, and you learn more about Meghan and her daughter. Meghan is a nurse at the ICU. She has multiple patients, but she gets close to one named Caitlin, who apparently tried to commit suicide by jumping off a pedestrian bridge. Somehow she survived – it was a miracle. But her body is broken, she’s in a coma, and she’s near death. Caitlin’s parents and brother also visit. The brother seems anxious, and the mom seems over-caring. She won’t leave her side.
You also learn a bit about Meghan’s work atmosphere. Nursing in the ICU is both rewarding and exhausting. She often confides in one of her closest co-workers, Luke. Luke is young and has a pregnant wife at home who is bedridden for the remaining couple of months of her pregnancy.
Only family members are allowed during visiting hours, but Meghan sees an intimidating man standing outside the glass to Caitlin’s room. Who is he?
Other things are also going on throughout the book. There is a serial rapist attacking women when they’re vulnerable – walking home alone after work.
You also learn a bit about Meghan’s family life. Her daughter is in High School, and she seems to have a boyfriend. Or at least a close friend who’s a boy. Meghan is divorced from Sienna’s father, Ben. She seems to have mixed feelings, but I understand that she longs for what their relationship used to be.
Meghan also reconnects with Nat, a friend from high school she hasn’t seen in ages. Nat seems to be going through a divorce or is soon to be going through one, and her husband appears to be abusive. She tries to help as much as possible. They talk and confide in each other. You can tell Meghan misses having that type of connection with someone.
Meghan starts receiving strange notes in her mailbox. Inside a locked building. She also gets locked in the basement looking for old pictures for her daughter.
The entire time I’m reading this, I’m wondering how it’s all connected. And when her daughter gets kidnapped.
I have so many thoughts about who’s who and what’s going on. Some I was right about. Some, not so much.
It turns out that the timing of the book isn’t quite what I thought. Meghan is the one who pushed Caitlin after she found out she was pretending to be Nat. Nat died in a car accident many years ago. Caitlin used the personal information Meghan told her to siphon $10k from her. Sienna was never actually kidnapped. It was a caller ID spoofing call made to look like it came from her daughter’s phone. She was safe at school. Meghan did some digging and found out it was her. When she approached her on the bridge, Meghan tried to get her wedding ring back, something Nat/Caitlin stole from her apartment. Her rage overtook her, and she pushed her. So the person she’s been taking care of is someone she’s put there. And now everyone knows it might be attempted homicide. But do they know who pushed her?
In the meantime, Meghan also speaks with the man who had been watching Caitlin outside her ICU room. Turns out Caitlin is not a good person. She took everything from this man, a restaurant owner who fired her when she worked for him in California. She was angry, broke into his house, and downloaded child porn. Then she called the police. He lost his job, his wife, and his now 8-year-old son. She deserves to die. Meghan also learns that she’s blackmailed her own mother, threatened to call child services if she didn’t get her way. Meghan agrees – she deserves to die. She chooses to ‘accidentally’ give Caitlin someone else’s medication. She dies quickly. Meghan thinks she’s scot free. But is she?
Meghan then learns that Luke is the serial rapist and he has Sienna. Now, Sienna is the one who locked her mom in the basement and sent her those horrible notes. Why? Because Nat/Caitlin told her that Ben wasn’t actually her father. Still, Meghan will do anything to save her daughter. Luckily, Luke’s wife figures out where and calls the police just in time to rescue Sienna.
The book ends with them resuming a semi-normal life. Sienna is back in school. Meghan was cleared to come back to work, but she’ll be monitored. Ben picks Sienna up from Meghan’s apartment. But what does Ben have? The engagement ring. It somehow ended up at his house.
Turns out. Caitlin was also Ben’s girlfriend. She left the ring there after she stole it. How much does Ben know?