"Going home meant entering that museum of grief, that monument to everything I'd lost."

Connor Nye is an English professor and a published author. He drinks a bit too much, trying to escape from the pain of losing his wife and son to a sudden accident. But Connor has a dark secret to hide - he is guilty of plagiarism, having published his student's manuscript under his own name. Why doesn't his student protest? She doesn't protest because she has gone missing, for two years, and everyone assumes she is dead. And now a police detective believes Connor is a murder suspect, because the book is just a little too true to life and Connor wrote details only the killer could know.

This novel by David Bell is totally engrossing and so well-written. The plot is believable, the issues are timely and the protagonist is flawed but likeable. He continues to make poor choices, but we are rooting for him nonetheless. Many of the characters appear unreliable and cannot be taken at face value, so that the reader begins to question everyone's motives, even Connor's. Events unfold at a quick pace which keeps the reader's interest.

Perhaps the only criticism might be that the ending and epilogue felt a little flat and rather anti-climactic. However it is a satisfactory ending with no loose ends. I would certainly recommend this for any mystery fan that enjoys a briskly-paced mystery with no gore.