Three months preceding Halloween 2013, tantrum-prone toddler Sophia briefly goes missing from a park. She later appears at the edge of the woods wanting to see the doggie, which is nowhere to be seen. After the police search ends, Sophia’s mom notices what appears to be a hypodermic puncture on her daughter’s arm. Hospital tests indicate that no drugs were administered. It’s probably a bug bite, her doting dad thinks.

Photographer and protagonist Jill is an insufferable snob, a Pittsburgh social climber who acknowledges that she and her attorney-husband David own a house they can’t afford yet berates those who don’t. A plot that begins with intrigue careens into a narrative of the maudlin marital woes of Jill and David Lassiter.

"Rebecca Drake’s fourth novel, following THE DEAD PLACE, has much potential. It’s up to the reader to ascertain the acuity of her vision for this endeavor."

Marital discord issues pale, as the couple faces “every parent’s worst nightmare.” Three-year-old Sophia goes missing during the night. Using Keystone Kopish forensics that rely only on blood type, not DNA, Detective Ottilo charges Jill with murder, although there’s no dead body to confirm that heinous act. The FBI investigates the presumed kidnapping hours after Jill reports the missing toddler, though there’s no ransom demand. Moreover, local police control the crime scene.

Meanwhile, the reader learns early on that villain Bea Walsh is responsible for Sophia’s abduction, thwarting intended psychological suspense. There are, however, flashbacks in the form of journal entries written by an unknown legal assistant who had an affair that resulted in pregnancy with one of the attorneys. Who is the mysterious lawyer known only by the initial D?

With police cards stacked against her, Jill initiates her own investigation feeling “as if she’d stepped in something unbearably slimy.” The amateur probe leads Jill to a vile, disgusting person. Time and again, Jill’s investigative path crosses that of “busy Bea,” and Jill seems to recall her from an unknown encounter.

Rebecca Drake’s fourth novel, following THE DEAD PLACE, has much potential. It’s up to the reader to ascertain the acuity of her vision for this endeavor.