Publication Date: October 3, 2023
From the award-winning author of Death at Greenway and The Lucky One comes a chilling suspense novel in which the discovery of a submerged car in a murky pond reveals betrayals and family secrets that will tear a small town apart.
One rainy night fifteen years ago, a knock at the door changed Liss Kehoe’s life forever.
On that night, Ashley Hay stood on Liss’s front porch and handed over her brand-new baby Callan.
She was never seen or heard from again.
Since then, Liss has raised Callan as her own, and loves him as fiercely as any mother would. But in the back of her mind, she’s always wondered whether Ashley is still out there somewhere—and feared what might happen if she comes back.
When Ashley does reappear, it’s not in the way Liss expected. After all these years, Ashley’s car has been found… in the quarry pond on Kehoe property. But the discovery of the car dredges up more questions than answers. What really happened on the night of Ashley’s disappearance? Was it a tragic accident, or something far more sinister? Someone in town knows the truth, and they’ll go to great lengths to keep it quiet.
As tensions rise in the small community, Liss must fight to protect her family and keep her own secrets hidden—or risk losing everything she loves.
Lissette Kehoe may be stuck between two men, but there’s nothing like the discovery of human remains to shake things up.
Author Lori Rader-Day teases readers by doling out chapter after chapter of suspenseful surprises in The Death of Us. She adds an interesting touch by dropping in a few chapters from a first-person perspective, which amps up the intensity before unveiling the narrator.
The central theme delves into the aftermath of finding a submerged car with human remains inside. A community is turned upside down as Town Marshal Mercer Alarie launches an investigation that seems to point directly to Lissette’s estranged husband, Link.
Mercer shines as the determined investigator, kicking over enough rocks that long-buried secrets finally come to life. Those revelations have a significant impact on the direction of the story, creating plenty of juicy plot lines.
The Death of Us takes readers on a rollercoaster ride, leading to an unexpected culprit amid the many secrets and lies.
Lori Rader-Day is the Edgar Award–nominated and Anthony, Agatha, and Mary Higgins Clark Award–winning author of Death at Greenway, The Lucky One, Under a Dark Sky, The Day I Died, Little Pretty Things, and The Black Hour. She lives in Chicago, where she is cochair of the mystery readers’ conference Midwest Mystery Conference and teaches creative writing at Northwestern University. She served as the national president of Sisters in Crime in 2020.
