Kirkus
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A young woman returns as police chief of her hometown in New Jersey’s Pine Barrens only to find herself challenged by a local drug ring and a haunting cold case. Chief Callie Hauser has been back in Pine Lakes only a few months when she has to arrest her mother for drunk driving. Jenna’s struggles with addiction shaped much of Callie’s childhood, but she never knew their root. Now she finds out that when Jenna was 16, she discovered a dead baby in the woods. Investigating the Baby Doe case leads Callie to a long-missing teenager, Sabrina Riley, but overall, her attention is occupied by more recent concerns: an uptick in the number of drug overdoses in town; her friend Jane’s slow recovery from a recent hit-and-run; and the fact that Jenna goes missing after being released from jail. Stretched to the breaking point, Callie finds some solace in Adrian, a cute scientist she meets by the river, but she can’t help worrying that the old case and new case are connected—particularly when she discovers that she and Baby Doe share DNA. Mullen plays a bit with perspective and time, choosing to narrate some chapters from another character’s point of view as well as to experiment with second-person narration, but this is truly Callie’s story. Mullen doesn’t shy away from exploring the echoes of trauma within families and communities, and the way some stories are ignored or silenced, but Callie’s strength and moral compass ground the darker aspects of the novel. Like so many modern thrillers, this is a tale about the things men do that hurt women, both casually and with vicious intent, but through Callie, Mullen also offers hope that by standing alongside one another, women not only survive, but preserve the stories of those they have lost. A slow-burn mystery held together by an admirable cast of strong, flawed women. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.