Caitlin Bergman, an award winning journalist, returns to the university to receive an honorary degree. She missed getting it twenty years earlier because she bailed out of college weeks before earning her degree. In her thank-you address, she spontaneously reveals that she left because she had been raped.
Caitlin is a savvy independent female protagonist, but now that she’s back in town her panic attacks have increased. She realizes that she needs help and is able to find it with a former professor/psychologist.
While she is in town, a young woman vanishes, joining the one that disappeared two years ago. The local police seem loath to fully investigate. Caitlin determines that the disappearance of these two girls be fully investigated—unlike her own rape.
This story is written by a male from the first person female perspective. I think Norman did a good job in capturing a woman’s voice. The current “own voices” clamor says that only those who have experienced a particular sexuality or torment should be able to write about that experience. My feeling is that any empathetic person can write about such experiences. Norman does a good job both with the female POV and handling the messy, distasteful details of abduction and rape. If you are an “own voices” proponent, you won’t care for this book. If you’re not, you’re in for a real treat of a thriller. I look forward to future books in this series.
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