Harlow looked down at a photo of her victim and couldn’t reconcile it with the body found by the lake. Here was a young and carefree woman, gazing at the camera with her striking emerald green eyes, her long black hair waving in the breeze. But within an instant her future had been extinguished. Harlow had to find out why.

When the remains of a young woman are discovered on the edge of Saranac Lake in upstate New York, local law enforcement immediately call Detective Harlow Durant. When she arrives at the scene, she instantly knows this case will get under her skin. Lying just beyond the picturesque lake popular with families are the remains of a victim who has seemingly been burned to death. With very little evidence remaining, Harlow begins scouring missing persons reports.

The victim is identified as twenty-six-year-old Ellie Gordon—a fun-loving young woman who worked in the bookstore and enjoyed going out with friends. When her mother comes to ID the body, she reports her daughter’s gold crucifix missing and the hunt begins to locate it and any potential DNA evidence. But as Harlow starts to piece Ellie’s last movements together, another body is found. The victim was killed in exactly the same way and worked with Ellie.

Witness statements identify a local man who was obsessed with both women and when Harlow sees video evidence of him pawning the gold necklace, she thinks she has her man. But when he too winds up dead, Harlow has to start over. The only other link to the women is Gavin Croswell, one of the most powerful men in the town. But with a whole host of alibis, pinning the murders on him is almost impossible.

With time running out to find the killer before another woman loses her life, the case soon becomes personal when Harlow’s car is violently run off the road. Someone wants to warn her off the case and they will use anything they can to threaten her. Even if it means exposing her own dark secret.

Can Harlow confront her demons to save another innocent life from being lost? And just how much is she prepared to sacrifice?

An absolutely addictive serial killer thriller perfect for fans of Melinda Leigh, and Robert Dugoni’s Tracy Crosswhite series.

Detective Harlow Durant is back with another criminal case!

When the remains of a woman’s body was found near the lake, the local PD contacts Detective Harlow Durant to the scene. The woman’s body is badly burned and charred and is barely recognizable. Detective Harlow Durant must solve the case before another victim will be snatched and dealing with her own past demons.

What made me get interested in this book is Harlow’s background–a serial killer father and coming from a dysfunctional family. This time, the author has given us snippets of Harlow’s relationship with her father who killed women almost twenty years ago and the timelines shift back and forth–to the present where Harlow is investigating the current case to the past that happened twenty years ago that changed her life forever. Nonethless, this book is fast paced thriller, with the twists and turns, the numerous suspects that leave you confused as to who would be the real killer. The ending was shocking and unpredictable and I was so immersed into the book that I stayed up all night reading this book! The very end is a cliff hanger, something that makes the reader like me to crave for the third book and wouldn’t wait to see what is going to happen next!

If you are looking for some start of detective series, I recommend this series to you all. This is fast paced, page turned with twists and turns you wouldn’t expect–worth five stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.