The Secrets We Hide

Slaughter returns with another gripping thriller following this series’s debut We Are All Guilty Here, and secrets once again prove fatal. Private investigator Allison Vickery, a former cop, is on the verge of vanishing with cash in hand and fake IDs ready for herself and her teenage daughter, Mandy, when gunshots shatter the quiet of their neighborhood. Sheriff Emmy Clifton arrives to find Allison dead. Clifton’s sister, ex-federal agent Jude Archer, sweeps the upstairs only to be shot herself and discover Mandy barely conscious with a head wound. All signs point to Allison’s allegedly abusive ex, but as Clifton digs deeper, a more complicated picture emerges. Mandy was secretly involved with an older man, a relationship she kept hidden even from her closest friends. In a town where nearly everyone is guarding something and buried secrets are practically a local tradition, Clifton must untangle a web of lies to find the truth about what happened to mother and daughter. Slaughter is masterful at keeping readers glued to the page, blending psychologically rich characters with dark, timely subject matter and a plot loaded with misdirection. Fans will be eager to follow Emmy Clifton and Jude Archer into whatever danger awaits them next.—Jeff Ayers