WICKED GAME
Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush
Zebra
Romantic Suspense
ISBN: 9781420103380
Even at the age of 16, Jezebel Brentwood, otherwise known as Jessie, was a force to be reckoned with. Mysterious, sexy, precocious and at the same time mocking, she worked her magic on the boys in her crowd at St. Elizabeth's, a private Catholic high school. Not always liked due to a mean streak, she was certainly always desired.
When she went missing, no one knew whether she had run away or met with foul play. Her friends, the popular kids at school, fell under suspicion, but with no body and no real clues, Jessie's disappearance quickly became a cold case.
Twenty years after the original event, St. Elizabeth's is being razed, and the demolition has revealed an ugly secret --- a set of bones belonging to a young female. Could it be that Jessie was never far from home after all?
When Jessie disappeared, Detective Sam McNally was sure that one of the "Preppy Pricks" --- as he liked to refer to the privileged boys she had been friends with --- was the culprit. Unable to prove it, though, he has stewed over the disappearance of this fascinating young woman ever since. But when the bones are discovered, he's hot on the trail again, firmly convinced that they belong to Jessie Brentwood.
Becca Sutcliff, who was a year behind Jessie at school and crazy wild over Jessie's high school boyfriend, Hudson Walker, is shaken to the core when she hears about the recovery of the bones at St. Elizabeth's. The past comes rushing back to haunt her with a vengeance.
When Becca was younger, she had visions, a dubious gift at best. They left her feeling self-conscious and freakish as well as taking their toll on her physically and mentally. Luckily she hasn't had one in years --- that is, until those bones are discovered. Now the visions are back, leaving Becca to feel scared, shaken and unsteady.
Becca hasn't exactly been the poster child for the emotionally well-adjusted these days anyway. Her husband, Ben, recently left her for a 22-year-old. To add insult to injury, he quickly impregnated his lover, while throughout his marriage to Becca, he had denied her the very thing she wanted most: children. Fate has a way of intervening, though, and Ben dropped dead of a heart attack before the divorce was final, leaving Becca to cope not only with her husband's betrayal but also with his death.
When the bones are unearthed at St. Elizabeth's, suddenly the old crowd comes in contact with each other and the adults they are now must somehow come to grips with the kids they were then. The renewed contact is especially difficult for Becca. On top of dealing with her feelings concerning Jessie's disappearance, she must now face her feelings for Jessie's ex, Hudson Walker. Hudson was Becca's first love and broke her heart.
Everyone wants to figure out what happened to Jessie all those years ago, but everyone also has secrets they'd rather keep to themselves. When the students who were the best and brightest at St. Elizabeth's start dropping like flies, it's time to get to the bottom of matters quickly. There’s someone out there who wishes them ill, and he or she will stop at nothing to see them punished.
Bestselling authors (and sisters) Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush team up for the first time to produce this excellent read and a definite page-turner. Often it can be hard to keep track of a large cast of characters in a suspense novel, but each of them here is so distinct and so well-written that there is no confusion as to who’s who. I didn't have to read long until I was sucked into the drama of the missing girl, the lives and personalities of the kids, and the group dynamics that were at work when they met as adults.
--- Reviewed by Amie Taylor
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