Susan Strecker

4.5 stars.

Nowhere Girl by Susan Strecker is a riveting mystery about the unsolved murder of bestselling novelist Cady Bernard's twin sister, Savannah.

Sixteen years after Savannah's murder, Cady has been unable to move past her grief, pain or guilt. Having channeled some of her emotions into a successful career as a mystery writer, she is researching her fifth novel when a series of dreams leads her to the New Jersey Penitentiary where she hopes to find information for her book and hopefully, her sister's killer. A chance encounter with her teenage crush and former classmate Brady Irons, now a corrections officer at the prison, provides her with the connection she needs for gaining access to notorious serial killer Larry Cauchek. When local police detective Patrick Tunney contacts Cady to tell her Savannah's case is being re-opened, she uncovers new information about her sister that she hopes will finally lead to the arrest of her killer.

Despite being identical twins, Cady and Savannah were complete opposites. Cady was (and still is) a good girl who walks the straight and narrow whereas Savannah lived life on the edge. Cady is still rather quiet, unassuming and self-conscious of her weight and despite her success as an author, she lacks self-esteem. Married to a psychologist, her marriage is suffering from a lack of communication, infertility and her husband's extravagant spending habits. Fortunately she has a core group of friends and family to support her, but the deeper she looks into Savannah's murder, the more suspicious Cady becomes of those closest to her.

Cady still looks at Brady with stars in her eyes and her crush on him has not waned in the intervening years since she last saw him. She is a little tongue-tied and awestruck at their first few meetings but once she focuses on her professional questions, she becomes more comfortable with him. While Brady has no problem discussing his career as a Corrections Officer and the inner workings of the prison system, he is less than forthcoming about his personal life. With her marriage on rocky ground, Cady grows closer to Brady, but is there more to their relationship than just friendship?

The reopened investigation is a bit of a slow burner since Patrick has other cases to work on in addition to Savannah's murder. Cady is more than willing to help dig around in her sister's past but she is sometimes reluctant to reveal what she uncovers. On the other hand, Patrick is scrupulously honest about how badly the original investigation was handled and he is completely forthcoming with his theories about what might have happened to Savannah.

Part whodunit and part character study, Nowhere Girl is an engrossing police procedural that fans of the genre do not want to miss. The plot is well-developed and the characters are engaging and multi-faceted. While some fairly heavy foreshadowing early in the story makes it rather easy to predict the truth about Savannah's death, Susan Strecker still manages to bring the investigation to a rather surprising conclusion. All in all, a very clever mystery with a unique plot and a gutsy, likable heroine I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend.… (altro)

For the first 60% or so of this book, I legitimately wasn't sure what to think. It wasn't riveting that your normal murder mystery...and yet there was something about it that made me have to know more about the journeys of these characters.

Nowhere Girl tells of a notorious writer who finds herself writing simply as a means of getting over her sister's brutal murder. She feels a connection to her still, as an identical twin, and for some reason is under the impression that ultimately her writing will lead her to the killer. It's a fascinating story that constantly has you both guessing and feeling like you can never quite pinpoint what's going to happen. At some point in reading, I think I had personally accused each and every character of being the murderer.

But I have to say, I honestly did NOT see the ending. I've read where others thought it was a bit predictable, but it has a really interesting twist that really made the story worthwhile. If you're looking for a mystery that is unlike anything you've read before, this is one I highly recommend.

My Rating: 4 Stars
Would I recommend?: Yes, if only because it was so interesting of an ending.

I was provided with a free copy of this book in order to conduct this review.



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