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Rating: 5 out of 5.

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Atmosphere Press

Pub date November 11, 2022

ISBN 978-1639886913

Price $18.99 Paperback, $7,99 Kindle

Author interview

A young woman’s search for a mysterious person in an old photograph leads her deep into a series of evil conspiracies that stretch over decades in Vancise’s latest crime thriller. Despite her resolve to not to set foot in her hometown of Woodsville, Arkansas, twenty-three-year-old Evie Day is back after her grandfather passed away. A photo from 1933 of a mysterious woman standing next to a tiny wooden box in her grandfather’s personal belongings forces Evie to look closely into the woman’s identity. Evie’s search gets her entangled into a sinister web of darkness and evil. The story unfolds with precision and authenticity. Vancise’s characterization is excellent, and short, crisply written chapters move the narrative briskly along while keeping all the seemingly disparate threads of the story in the mix. As Evie begins to investigate the mysterious woman’s identity, the narrative changes rapidly from memory to memory and from the present to the past. The novel also highlights themes of child trafficking and abuse, trauma, PTSD, mental health issues, and the challenges young children face in the foster care system. Disturbing imagery and unsettling episodes of rape and physical violence involving children as young as newborn demands caution on readers’ part. Dark, disturbing, and gripping.

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