Publication Date: August 6, 2024
They buried their secrets, but not deep enough…
Hannah McCullough’s life is far from perfect, but you’d never know it by looking at her. Instead, you’d see a beautiful young mother wholly devoted to her two children and a docile wife utterly besotted with her self-made millionaire husband, Allan. You’d see the designer clothes she wears, the luxury car she drives, the dewy-eyed au pair she employs.
You wouldn’t see the dark secret she carries.
But when a construction crew unearths the body of a young girl near the McCulloughs’ vacation home on Orcas Island, Hannah has no choice but to confront her past. She wonders how much Allan knows about the victim and the apocalyptic cult she was connected to. Meanwhile, Allan can’t seem to understand why his beautiful young bride, as polished and pristine as the collectible artifacts in his glass case, would threaten their fairy-tale lifestyle by digging too deep, in places she knows she shouldn’t.
As the police investigation into the gruesome discovery deepens, the facade of Hannah’s picture-perfect marriage starts to crumble, and she soon finds herself on a dire hunt for answers. And Hannah’s search takes an unexpected turn after she crosses paths with three strangers with shocking secrets of their own.
The discovery of a dead body during a housing excavation sets off an unexpected chain of events in The Body Next Door.
Author Maia Chance uses Orcas Island as the origin of a secret that haunts socialite Hannah McCullough and threatens to unravel her marriage.
The body, with its connections to a disbanded radical cult, draws the attention of three strangers with secrets of their own.
The author uses the first person to tell the story as it shifts between the main characters. This allows the tension to build, especially as readers gain insight into different motivations. However, it may be distracting for some since it is important to remember who is serving as the narrator.
As a psychological thriller, The Body Next Door uses a present-day scenario as a catalyst for unraveling secrets from the past.
Maia Chance is the author of the thriller The Body Next Door as well as ten mystery novels. Originally from northern Idaho, she has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in violin performance and a Ph.D. in English Literature. She lives on a bucolic island in Puget Sound with her husband, two children, and her dog.
