Jaqueline Bublitz

The acclaimed author of the “tour de force” (The New York Times Book Review) Before You Knew My Name returns with a fresh suspense novel about a woman haunted by a serial killer and the ghosts he left behind. 

Ruth-Ann Baker is a college dropout, a bartender—and an amateur detective who just can’t stay away from true crime. Nineteen years ago, her childhood friend was murdered by suspected serial killer Ethan Oswald. Still tormented by the case, Ruth can’t help but think of the long-dead Oswald when another young girl goes missing from the same town. And when she uncovers startling new evidence that suggests Oswald did not act alone, she is determined to find his deadly partner in crime.

Embarking on a global investigation, Ruth becomes close to three very different women—one of whom might just hold the key to what happened to the missing girl. And her childhood friend, all those years ago.

From an author who “pushes the boundaries of crime fiction in all the right ways” (Alex Finlay, author of The Night Shift), Leave the Girls Behind is another spine-chilling thriller that will linger long after you finish the last page.

Leave the Girls Behind

Lindsay

“You do know, don’t you, pumpkin? Never to talk to strangers.”

How do you know if they’re a stranger? she wanted to ask. Because it was confusing. Being told to smile and say hello and be polite to everyone she meets. Then being told it would be okay to kick a person in the shins if they tried to take her away.

That was another of her questions. At seven years old, she knows about villains. They wear masks and speak in scary voices. They try to steal your voice so they can use it for themselves, and they let your father fall over a cliff so they can take over the pride. But aren’t the people who rescue you often strangers too? The ones who find you when you’re lonely and lost and say, Hey, why don’t you come with me? I can help you!

Her mommy and daddy never warned her about that.

But she never forgets what America really looks like. It is a landscape of the lost.

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