Don’t Believe a Word

Early in this unsettling novel of psychological suspense from MacDonald (I See You), New York City book editor Eden Radley learns online of a mother and son murder-suicide in Cleveland, Ohio. Eden’s father, Hugh Radley, confirms that the dead are her estranged mother, Tara Darby, and the disabled four-year-old half-brother she never met, though he believes that the deaths, by carbon monoxide poisoning, are accidental. Eden’s gut tells her that her stepfather, writer Flynn Darby, for whom Tara impulsively left Hugh nine years earlier, is somehow responsible. When Eden is assigned to be the editor of Flynn’s upcoming memoir, she gets the opportunity to travel to Cleveland and investigate her suspicions of Flynn. With deep compassion, MacDonald sharply reveals how mental illnesses can test a loving family’s patience and ultimately tear them apart. Readers will come away questioning how we can trust others and ourselves, as Eden finds no one is truly safe from insanity. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (May)