I enjoyed this book, but was thrown by the ending. There are many exciting twists and turns as Margot tries to get to *who* was the murderer and I was hanging on every step of the way, cheering her on every time she got a clue or lead. I was secretly hoping for a spark between Margot and Pete, perhaps to provide some levity from the heavy plot (finding the person who is murdering little girls). I was compelled to finish it because I wanted the murderer brought to justice!

The ending was completely unexpected.

During their conversation, Billy told Margot that being a parent makes you fiercely protective of your kids, but adds that condescending bit of 'you'll know when you become a parent' which really does a great job of showing how much of a jerk Billy is. In the epilogue, we find out that he accidentally knocked his daughter down the stairs (when he meant to knock his wife down the stairs). His first instinct (as anyone's should be) is to see if she is still alive and call an ambulance to take her to the hospital. Any normal person would try to rush her to the hospital. Then she comes to, says something, he gets triggered, flips out and kills her instead. What?! I also found it extremely weird what Chrissy did - removing the dead body from the scene and dropping it in a ditch. Why?! She was protecting Jace from being blamed, but would a normal person do this? Would a mother do this to her child? I think a normal person would call the police; maybe lie about Jace's presence at the scene, but not mess with the body like Chrissy did. Chrissy and Billy were woefully unprepared to be parents and their stories are each very sad; their actions show that they are not normal in the head and perhaps never learned to deal with their extreme emotions. So the twist is that the murderer was just under our noses all along, he was just schizophrenic (or mentally ill in some way). But he goes free and isn't caught, even after he goes on to kill again (Chrissy). As the story ends suddenly, there is not resolution that Billy was ever caught, but Margot is a good investigator so I'm pretty sure she had the means to make it happen. 

 

Overall, I wish the story had 1 more "wrap up" chapter just to tie up some loose ends and possibly give a positive outlook to a possible Margot and Pete relationship.