The One I Left Behind - by Jennifer McMahon (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

"One of the brightest new stars of literary suspense."
--Los Angeles Times

New York Times bestselling author Jennifer McMahon is back with a gut-wrenching mystery about an architect whose troubled mother has been found 25 years after being kidnapped--by a killer who is still on the loose

The summer of 1985 changed Reggie's life. Thirteen, awkward, and without a father, she finds herself mixed up with her school's outcasts--Charlie, the local detective's son, and Tara, a goth kid who has a mental hold over Reggie and harbors a dark secret. That same summer a serial killer called Neptune begins kidnapping women. He leaves their severed hands on the police department steps and, five days later, displays their bodies around town. Just when Reggie needs her mother Vera--an ex-model with many "boyfriends" and a thirst for gin--the most, Vera's hand is found on the steps. But after five days, there's no body and Neptune disappears.

Now a successful architect who left her hometown behind after that horrific summer, Reggie doesn't trust anyone and lives with few attachments. But when she gets a call from a homeless shelter saying that her mother has been found alive, Reggie must confront the ghosts of her past and find Neptune before he kills again.

With her signature style, Jennifer McMahon portrays the dark side of adolescent friendship and introduces characters who haunt the imagination, along with a disturbing web of secrets, betrayals, and murder.

From the Back Cover

From the New York Times bestselling author of Burntown and Promise Not to Tell comes a gut-wrenching thriller about a missing mother and the serial killer who returns twenty-five years later

The summer of 1985 changes Reggie's life. An awkward thirteen-year-old, she finds herself mixed up with the school outcasts. That same summer, a serial killer called Neptune begins kidnapping women. He leaves their severed hands on the police department steps and, five days later, displays their bodies around town. Just when Reggie needs her mother, Vera, the most, Vera's hand is found on the steps. But after five days, there's no body and Neptune disappears.

Now, twenty-five years later, Reggie is a successful architect who has left her hometown and the horrific memories of that summer behind. But when she gets a call revealing that her mother has been found alive, Reggie must confront the ghosts of her past and find Neptune before he kills again.

Review Quotes

"[A] strange and unsettling shocker ... [the story] is informed with the surreal logic of a dream. The disorientation is heightened through alternating sections that shift between past and present. The well-rendered childhood scenes mix painful memories with magical wonder. The contemporary sequences tip into nightmare. With the tale's outcome utterly unforeseeable even as it races along, "Don't Breathe a Word" leaves you breathless." - Wall Street Journal

"[A]n eerie and gripping tale of suspense. And Emma is a triumph of characterization: It's rare that I find an author who can so compellingly convey a child's point of view." - Boston Globe

"Haunting and harrowing, The One I Left Behind offers enthralling suspense but also so much more: a richly poignant tale of the families we're born into and the ones we build ourselves." - Megan Abbott, author of Dare Me

"Jennifer McMahon's novels are like the perfect winter truffle: dark, rich, earthy, and an absolute, decadent pleasure." - Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Gods in Alabama and Backseat Saints

"Jennifer McMahon never flinches and never fails to surprise as her stories twist down unexpected roads." - Randy Susan Meyers, author of The Murderer's Daughters

"A mesmerizing psychological thriller...McMahon fills THE ONE I LEFT BEHIND with unpredictable twists and turns as she explores that great mystery of the human heart." - South Florida Sun Sentinel

"McMahon expertly ratchets up the suspense, but it's her full-blooded characters that make this thriller stand out from the serial-killer pack." - People (3 1/2 stars)

"[A] haunting work of literary suspense ...Grippingly plotted, this intricate, character-driven story seamlessly shifts time." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"McMahon scores a solid touchdown in this creepy but engrossing thriller....Readers will find themselves unable to turn the pages fast enough in this perfectly penned thriller." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Totally engrossing...Hard to put down...A quick read that is highly entertaining." - Oklahoma City Oklahoman