So Chloe is the star of this anxiety-inducing show. When she was really young, her father got arrested for the deaths of teenage girls. This is something that really traumatized her, and we see a lot of the effects in her adult years. Her brother and mother were also traumatized and they both also exhibit effects of this. Nevertheless, she is doing better: she is getting married to a really good guy, she has a great job, and she can honestly see her past getting behind her. What could possibly go wrong? Well, teenage girls start getting missing, and the clues being left behind are quite similar to when she was younger when those teenage girls went missing. Are they connected in a way? However, the strengths outweigh the flaws. Chloe is a complicated narrator who commands the plot. In addition to Chloe, Willingham creates a tense atmosphere that gave me the creeps. I guessed part of the ending, but there was one twist I didn't see coming.

There were a few aspects of the plot that I think could have been done better. The whole thing about Lena knowing about Tara King’s murder seemed unnecessary and made no sense. She witnessed a murder and decided to provoke the killer over the course of three weeks instead of going to the police? Nonsense. Why would she keep hanging around his house? It’s even more annoying since it’s a completely unnecessary detail. Just say that Cooper killed her since she was a bad influence on his sister or cause he just wanted to and be done with it. Also, about Tyler participating in Cooper’s plot out of the sheer charisma of his personality. That was … ehh. I think with the right setup maybe I could have bought it, but either way it’s definitely a weak point in the plot.It’s possible that my overindulgence in the thriller genre has left me jaded, and those who haven’t read dozens of similar stories this year will find Stacy Willingham’s novel more surprising. Emma Stone must be one of them, since she’s already got an HBO Max limited series adaptation in the works. (I will say that she has to be trying to stretch her range here, because I couldn’t picture her as the main character even knowing her casting ahead of time.)

Then, revelation time. Chloe has solved this puzzle! The dang murderer is obviously taking these girls to Chloe's childhood home. She also apparently used to know him, because he's from her home town. EYE ROLL. She is going to drive right to the house and not tell anyone about it. She is also going to leave her phone in the car because why would you need that? (Aside: a famous serial killer's house has been sitting empty for 20 years and it's somehow completely intact, not vandalized, burned down...?) In what world? One day a teen girl is missing, the search goes on and on, she is found, strangled. Soon another girl is missing. Cooper admits to all the killings, plus one more (Tara King) who was the actual first girl. It turns out their father found all the jewelry hidden under his floorboards but Cooper convinced him not to say anything. However, Chloe ended up finding it in the closet. Chloe also realizes her father must have told her mother the truth before he was arrested, and her mother kept the secret but it caused her to unravel. As for Tyler, he was just a lonely person who Cooper convinced to help in his plans. Daniel also admits to visiting Chloe's father Richard n prison, since there were parts of the story that didn't line up for him. In doing so, he learned that Richard wasn't the killer. No casting details have been released yet. It’s not clear yet whether Emma Stone will be starring in the series in addition to producing the series.Twenty years later, Chloe is a psychologist working with young girls suffering through varying levels of trauma, like she did herself. Sometimes beautifully descriptive: “I remember wandering by myself through the fairgrounds, the sounds and smells of Louisiana permeating my skin . . .the scents of crawfish being prepared in every possible way; fried, boiled, bisque, boudin”. I've read plenty of serial killer stories from the perspective of investigators, the victims and their families, and regular townspeople, but I'm not sure I've ever read one from the killer's own daughter. And coming at it from that angle makes this story feel fresh and unusual. Chloe still suffers from the fallout of her childhood, and her narrative envelopes the whole story in her dark and foreboding mood. Sometimes eerily descriptive: “It’s as if the answers have been in front of me all along--dancing, just out of reach. Twirling . . .like that ballerina, chipped and pink, spinning to the rhythm of delicate chimes.”

Before she knows it, Chloe finds herself steeped in the investigation. She needs to get to the bottom of it. It seems too close to home, like it's intentional. Like this new killer is trying to draw her in. It was rough. In their small Louisiana town the shroud of guilt was always upon them. They ended up moving to try to hide from the scandal. The premise: a loving father of two children was a serial killer of teenaged girls, convicted of the murders after confessing (with little proof); now 20 years later there is a copycat. From the first chapter, I had a strong hunch who was doing the killing. I was correct. This doesn’t necessarily ruin a novel for me, as I find entertainment in the clever way that authors create their story. I’ll give credit to Willingham in some of her crafting of the story. There were a couple reveals that I did not anticipate. And, as much as I couldn't stand the narrator most of the time, I also felt a...kinship with her in some ways...The two-paragraph version: Chloe's father confessed to murdering six teenaged girls when she was 12. Chloe was the one who found the evidence that linked him to the murder in his closet and turned it over to the police. Now, 20 years later, two more teenaged girls have been found dead. Chloe starts to suspect that her fiancée Daniel is a copycat killer since he also had a sister who disappeared under mysterious circumstances 20 years ago.