She's just a small town girl... living in a lonely world...
Enter Lillian Dove. She's a lonely girl, with a cloudy background like most of us. She's struggling with her mommy/daughter relationship, she's also a recovering alcoholic. She throws herself into her work, cares for her kitty, ironically named "BACARDI". Life is lonely and uneventful.
And then.
After spending the night with her boss, she is making the drive of shame the next morning and sees smoke during that drive. There's a house on fire, a familiar house. The occupants are away on vacation, yet Lillian sees someone inside. She tries in vain to rescue them, but once she arrives, there's no longer anyone TO rescue. Now Lillian needs the rescue. Although she's CERTAIN there was someone in the house, she cannot convince anybody else that her tale holds merit.
Perhaps as a direct result of said tale, she finds herself suddenly let go from her job, and her internal dialogue begins. Was she dismissed as a result of the night with the Chief? Or due to her insistence that there was indeed someone inside the burning house? Does everyone think she's unstable?
She begins an independent hunt for answers, since she's jobless, she has time to play at amateur sleuthing. She's going to FIND the missing victim, who is the only one with the ability to back up Lillian's version of what happened at the burnt house, now believed to be arson... a house suspiciously burnt for a SECOND time, repeating an act that also took place many years ago, that time ending the lives of the homeowners. If there's a connection, Lillian believes she'll find it.
DJ Adamson has a wonderful start to a series. The book was engaging, the characters were absolutely believable. There was no "obvious" trail to the book ending, I was forever guessing. I HATE when I read a mystery with an almost visible line drawn to the suspect, leaving my read experience feeling like a waste of time. I didn't feel that way even once while I absorbed this book.
I'm looking forward to the next installment!
