I Am Not Who You Think I Am

This exceptional thriller from bestseller Rickstad (Reap) opens with a letter from the Shireburne, Vt., police chief to the town’s citizens regarding a manuscript by Wayland Maynard, a former resident who was believed to have died in a fire in Shireburne in 1984. Maynard’s account begins in 1976, when, at age eight, he came home to witness his father, Roland, the local barber, shoot himself in the head with a shotgun. Maynard, who was splattered with his parent’s blood, finds a note nearby with the cryptic message “I Am Not Who You Think I Am,” but conceals it from everyone else. His mother’s response to the suicide—to rid the home of anything connected with Roland—further traumatizes Maynard. As a 16-year-old, Maynard begins to question what he believes about his father’s death, but his investigation just leads him into more confusion and violence. The reveal about the meaning of the note comes as a genuine gut-punch. Knowing that the story line is building toward the fatal conflagration keeps the tension high. Rickstad has raised his game to a new level. Agent: Shane Salerno, Story Factory. (Oct.)