I Was Here

In a working-class town, the abuse of a young girl is hushed up by a community more interested in civility than justice. Twenty years later, a series of obscene texts revives that old injustice and ten seemingly unconnected lives are pulled into an intricate and dangerous swerve toward tragedy.

This heart-stopping tale unfolds at the pace of a thriller, but its exquisite tension is generated by the precision of its character portraits. Just pages in, the anticipation is already deliciously unbearable—we're terrified for sweet, damaged Charlotte because she is so nakedly there on the page, a child-woman made vulnerable by her innocence. Already we sense the mounting inevitability of an extraordinary show-down with the chilling Phil Leone, and this sense only deepens with each installment, as more characters thrum to life, all equally naked in their wanting and fearing.

It is, without a doubt, a page-turner, but it is also a profound look at human fragility, the momentum of evil, and the bravery required for kindness. This book is both unusually kind and unusually brave. It is also an unusually good read, marrying the depth and beauty of literary fiction to the adrenaline rush of a thriller.

Currently being serialized on Rooster. www.readrooster.com