Overburdened by a full cast of characters and an unnecessary amount of detail, this new suspense novel from Corsi Staub (after She Loves Me Not
) starts out agonizingly slow, but it manages to keep readers in the dark about the killer's identity until the final pages. The idyllic community of Woodsbridge, N.Y., represents everything Kathleen Carmody didn't have growing up: love, stability and normalcy. But when a young teen disappears and a mysterious figure begins lurking around the field where Kathleen's 13-year-old daughter, Jen, plays soccer, Kathleen fears that her past may have come back to haunt her—and her daughter. Kathleen's big secret remains hidden for much of the book, which is a cause for some confusion. The constant narrative shifts—from Kathleen, to Jen, to their neighbor, to one of Jen's school acquaintances and then to some possibly shady characters the reader knows nothing about—only compound the problem. Still, Corsi Staub throws in several credible red herrings, and though she doesn't deliver nail-gnashing suspense, this competent mystery offers a challenging puzzle and some eerie chills. Agent, Laura Blake Peterson at Curtis Brown
. (June)
