Nora McTavish Series

The murder of an influencer’s family exposes the disturbing secrets behind the facade in a haunting novel of suspense by Joe Hart, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Or Else. Family is content for Kaylee Volk. Her vlogs celebrate a happy home with her husband and their three foster children, Bethany, Mason, and Andrea. Everything is perfect until the day the family’s private plane plummets into the ocean. Only Kaylee manages to survive—with a shocking revelation: Andrea did it. This is particularly devastating for Nora McTavish, a child protective services agent who is already familiar with Andrea’s troubled history. Given Nora’s own traumatic childhood, how could she not have sensed the profound darkness festering within the girl? What did she miss? Could she have stopped Andrea? As Kaylee struggles to cope with the crushing loss, Nora’s investigation begins. But her guilt soon turns to unease. Secret by secret, Nora pieces together a Volk family puzzle that’s more twisted than anyone saw—one far from the picture-perfect life Kaylee sold to the public. And the closer Nora looks, the more disturbing it gets.

Finding the truth in a family shattered by lies, betrayal, and murder is a deadly gamble in a twisting novel of suspense by Joe Hart, Wall Street Journal bestselling and Edgar Award–winning author of Or Else. Family advocate Nora McTavish is settling into her new practice when she receives a call from Tess Grayson, a childhood friend she hasn’t spoken to in years. Tess is entangled in a custody battle with her ex-husband, Neil, a popular professor at a local university. It’s getting vicious—and dangerous. Rumors are swirling of Neil’s affairs with students, one of whom was found bludgeoned to death. Though the charges against him were dropped, Tess doesn’t want the man anywhere near their nine-year-old daughter. But as Nora digs deeper into the shattered Grayson marriage, she sees more sides to the story than anyone anticipated. Which side can she trust is the question. Old secrets and lies are beginning to emerge—some from Nora’s own past—and as suspicions begin to shift, another murder draws Nora perilously close to a killer. This time she’s not just betting her reputation on a case. She’s betting her life on it.