![](/image-factory/http/backend-test.booklife.com/images/data/PROJECT/cover_image/000/094/94379-1.PNG/w350.jpg)
![](/images/bl-reviews-logo-small.png)
![](/images/editors-pick.png)
Creepier still: visions of a human skull that trigger nightmares that drive Maddie to hypnotherapy. As the stakes ramp up, and as Maddie struggles to determine whether or not her imagination is conjuring dark scenarios, Schleich captures the unsettling feeling of not trusting one’s own mind as well as the practical tensions of what it means to put one’s life and responsibilities on hold, especially as Maddie’s friends, a U.S. Attorney and an FBI agent, insist she take time off to recuperate. But after a shocking discovery, Maddie has no choice but to dig deeper, uncovering a trail of homicides, some decades old, with one common denominator: her client’s soon to be ex.
Schleich crafts an intriguing and twisting murder plot that moves briskly, builds to surprises, and centers on a woman who no longer can count on her sharpest asset: her mind, where words now “flicker” like “a dying neon sign.” What makes Maddie compelling is her refusal to accept this and her zeal to fight for justice.
Takeaway: Gripping mystery of a lawyer's amnesia and a rash of murders.
Comparable Titles: Dylan Young’s Trauma, Charles Harris’s Room 15.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A