Moving on to the next book in the series, maybe I’m just tired of the plot holes. I didn’t make extensive notes this time.
One thing that really struck me about this book:
Logan was an ER doctor. His wife Marie was killed in a car accident, a hit-and-run.
Instantly images of Marie stuck in the windshield of our car flashed in my mind. Her face cut up by glass.
Why on earth would Logan, an ER doctor, be driving around with his wife not buckled in? He had ample experience with what happens to people who aren’t buckled in and usually doesn’t happen to people who are buckled in, like going through windshields. He should have refused to even start the car until all passengers were properly buckled in!
Casual cultists
The B plot is that three reporter-types are brutally murdered by being strangled into unconsciousness and then stabbed repeatedly by many people. The one thing they had in common is threatening notes from a cult demanding that the reporter-types report on them. Weirdly, the reporter-types all hid these notes, but the police found them. Why would they hide what appear to be notes from a nutcase? That’s never explained.
Anyway, following a bunch of breadcrumbs about people in Chicago, Riley determines that there’s a cult hanging out in a trailer park in her small town. She persuades a surviving reporter-type to go out and interview the leader of the cult, Sunflower, since the cult wants to be reported on. Sunflower freely admits to the murders twice, so Riley arrests her.
As the police start to take Sunflower away, the cultists close in on them, demanding that she be released. One goes after a cop, brandishing a knife, and another cop shoots him. The angry mob immediately turns to caring for the wounded (and I think dead) cultist, forgetting about their beloved cult leader. I’m just sure that’s how cultists would respond. The cops take Sunflower away, and the cult disappears from the story.
Jamie makes her move
The A plot is about Jamie. First off, she has to hide Everly’s body, which she literally buries in the back garden. Everly’s boyfriend shows up looking for her, and I honestly expected Jamie to kill him too. But she didn’t and he went away.
Although Everly seems to have tried to clean up her act towards the end, there’s a flashback where Jamie overhears Everly and Marie discussing the fact that Everly got Marie to hurry Everly’s husband into the grave. So there’s some serious homicidal tendencies in this family.
This is an important passage about Jamie:
Jamie stood in front of the breakfast nook staring at her computer. Her plan was coming together. She had the funds, the new birth certificates and social security numbers. They both had new identities.
She drained every account she had access to, so she had plenty of money. She also had a working car.
Logan was warned on three separate occasions to beware of Jamie. Warnings to Logan from his lawyer:
“If anything else happens or she [Jamie] shows up, call the police and then call me. If someone comes here and tries to take her, call me and then the police. Understand?”
“I feel obligated to warn you.” He took a deep breath. “I don’t think you’ll lose custody of Dani, but after the mediation… the way Jamie acted… she’s dangerous. I don’t know for sure if she started the fire when she was a kid, but if she did, I can’t imagine what she would do now. Don’t let Dani out of your sight. I honestly don’t think you’ve seen the last of her.”
Warning to Logan from a social worker:
“The person who made the complaint is someone you need to watch out for. I can’t get into particulars.”
“But?” I watched her for a long moment.
Her face twisted, and her mouth opened and closed several times before any words came out. “Keep Dani close. Just keep her close, and don’t let her out of your sight.”
So naturally Logan goes off to interview a witness about the fire that destroyed a Catholic school for wayward girls, a fire that killed sixty people, a fire that his wife, Marie, obviously set. His brother, Isaac, goes off to work or something, leaving Dani alone with her elderly nanny, Bonnie. Jamie strolls in, kills Bonnie by slashing her throat, and takes Dani away.
Exactly as the lawyer and social worker warned.