What Lies Beneath

Holy cow! This book is a non-stop ride that ends in a way I never saw coming! Once again, I was intrigued because it sounded like a good mystery story. I was not disappointed. I did not realize that this is the second book in a series but I didn't find it hard to follow along anyway. As far as I knew it was a standalone. Honestly the way this book ended I am glad to find out it is a series.

Laura Chambers is a reporter who is working on a story about a murder that happened when she was 8 years old. Dubbed The Shotgun Slayer, Simon Barrow murdered a couple, the Merritts, and has been on death row for the last 20 years. He never once confessed or gave up any information as to why he murdered them. Their daughter Emily, also 8 at the time, managed to escape and hide in the woods. Laura is back in town visiting her mother when there is a freak storm that takes out the electricity and cell tower near her. Once back on, she has a message from a local cop asking her to join him at the scene of an accident. She arrives at the scene, a woman, maimed by a truck and beyond recognition on the highway. Confused as to why she's there, she finds out hers was the last number this woman dialed before she was killed. Asked to identify her body, Laura looks and says she has no idea who this person is. 

Laura will soon discover this woman has a connection to her past that is intertwined with a dark secret amongst her family and the Merritt family. As she starts to dig deeper into who this woman was, they discover she'd been shot first before running barefoot into the woods and ending up being hit on a highway. So many questions start to surface. Who was this woman and what is her connection to Laura? Why was she shot? Could this be Emily Merritt? After finding a photo album the woman had hidden in her hotel room the plot deepens. The photo album contains a number of photos of Laura's family, the Chambers and of the Merritts. Laura has no recollection of their families being close. In fact, after they died, she was told she could never talk about Emily being her best friend. Why did this woman have this album and why can't she remember their families being so close? Why did her parents hide their relationship? 

The past has come back to haunt not only Laura but the town itself. As she dives deeper into this mystery things get hairy. She starts being followed, is shot at and almost killed and then almost framed for a murder she didn't commit. Can she find out who the real killer is, who the woman is and what the connection is to her own father who disappeared right after the murder of the Merritt family before it's too late?

I really enjoyed this story. It is fast paced and action packed. I stayed up until 3 am to finish it. I could not put it down. I had to find out all the answers I needed. For the most part they were answered. The story wrapped up nicely. I like the character of Laura and I look forward to, hopefully, more about her. The story kind of ends on a cliff hanger so I'm really hoping we find out what was in the letter her father left her. All in all, a great mystery thriller that will have you guessing and not wanting to stop until you have the answers yourself. I received this book free from NetGalley for an honest review.