Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The loss of her police officer father and the discovery of an abandoned car in a local lake raise chilling questions regarding a young woman’s family history. When Hazel Sharp returns to her hometown of Mirror Lake, North Carolina, for her father’s memorial, she and the other townspeople are confronted by a challenging double whammy: As they’re grieving the loss of beloved longtime police officer Detective Perry Holt, a disturbing sight appears in the lake, whose waterline is receding because of an ongoing drought—an old, unidentifiable car, which has likely been lurking there for years. Hazel temporarily leaves her Charlotte-based building-renovation business in the capable hands of her partners and reconnects with her brothers, Caden and Gage; her Uncle Roy; her old fling and neighbor, Nico; and her schoolfriend, Jamie, now a mother and married to Caden. Tiny, relentless suspicions rise to the metaphorical surface along with that waterlogged vehicle: There have been a slew of minor break-ins; two people go missing; and then, a second abandoned car is discovered. The novel digs deeper into Hazel’s family history—her father was a widow when he married Hazel’s mother, who later left the family, absconding with money and jewels—and Miranda, a consummate professional when it comes to exposing the small community tensions that naturally arise when people live in close proximity for generations, exposes revelation after twisty revelation: “Everything mattered disproportionately in a small town. Your success, but also your failure. Everyone knows might as well have been our town motto.” Small-town claustrophobia and intimacies alike propel this twist-filled psychological thriller. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Library Journal
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Hazel Sharp's detective father dies and leaves her the family home, forcing her to confront a dysfunctional family and unanswered questions about her missing mother in Miranda's (The Last House Guest) latest. Her brothers are upset with her for moving away and seem to be hiding secrets. Hazel's former love also appears to be hiding something, making Hazel feel isolated and alone. Her home town of Mirror Lake is suffering through a drought, and objects under the surface of the lake begin to appear as it dries up. The more Hazel pushes for answers, the more she learns that the truth about her mother's disappearance should have stayed hidden, like the bottom of the lake. Miranda creates an intense and atmospheric read in which a drought plays perfectly with Hazel's quest while she tries hard not to drown in elements of her past she wants to forget. VERDICT Miranda has arguably written her best book to date, and she has another guaranteed best seller on her hands.—Jeff Ayers

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Wills have a way of bringing out the worst in surviving relatives. Miranda, known for thrillers such as The Last to Vanish (2022) and The Only Survivors (2023), wrings maximum suspense out of the postmortem punch of wills in this mystery, which centers on a disputed inheritance and unfinished business from the past. Hazel Sharp, a professional house renovator, returns to Mirror Lake, North Carolina, after her stepfather, a longtime police detective, dies. Even though her stepbrothers, also cops, still live in the town, the will leaves the family home to Hazel, setting off some family tensions. More disturbing still are the two cars that surface from the lake because of a long drought—one of them belonging to Hazel’s mother, a grifter who cleaned out the family finances and then disappeared when Hazel was fourteen, leaving just a note to her “Daughter of Mine.” Miranda brings the suspense to a nice boil by centering suspense on the falling-apart family house Hazel is temporarily living in, using Hazel’s knowledge that the things that are wrong and unseen in homes can be the most dangerous.