Nasty Little Secrets

Rose Dearling’s brother, Will, sits in jail, convicted of murdering Alexandria Hopely, his first love. With adjoining backyards, the Dearling and the Hopely families were particularly close, but that all changed when Rose refused to accept that Will was the killer. Years later, Rose is the best-selling author of The Smileys Next Door, a thinly fictionalized account of what she thinks really happened to Alex, naming Mr. Hopely as his daughter’s murderer. When her sister, Hazel, disappears, Rose is summoned by family to leave New York City and return to her hometown, Loxahatchee FL, where unsurprisingly, former friends regard her with suspicion and disdain. As family secrets begin to surface, Rose becomes even more convinced that Will is innocent and that the real killer is still on the loose. Local cop Nick Pullman gets put on the case, bringing another backstory into the narrative as the search for Hazel grows more desperate. A skanky teacher and a lecherous neighbor round out the cast, and Hanks has readers’ heads snapping as this story tumults to its thrilling and surprising conclusion.—Dodie Ownes