Published By: Lake Union
Pages: 285
Released On: 08/09/2026
Jane Baye is a regular person, good at a lot of things, but identifying the serial killer right in front of her isn’t one of them.
In 1990, college senior Jane wrote to an incarcerated woman because it seemed like a nice thing to do. Thirty-six years later, that felon, actually a man, has moved in next door. He’s watching her every move, with a decades-long plan for Jane that a nice person like her would never see coming.
Especially because Jane is wrapped up in her own problems: a small-town golden boy with talk of forever and a diabolical history of cheating. When she exposes her ex, the entire town of Wonder Lake turns against her.
It’s no wonder she doesn’t see what’s coming on the night of the Norwegian heritage festival.
But woe to those who mistake Jane for a pushover. When celebration becomes a fight for survival, the very qualities that make her ordinary become the weapons she’ll bet everything on.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
This is the first of Ann’s books I’ve read.
It’s an exciting premise and good story but I struggled with the actual writing of it at times. It felt a bit….”in a box”, like she knew the fundamentals of creating a story but had stuck to those rather than expand into her voice. That was hard to explain so hopefully that made sense, but it might be a story you need to read yourselves. It wasn’t enough to spoil the enjoyment of the book but it was a bit of a niggling point for me.
Having said that, the writing of it got so much better as it went along. It sped up and had more depth to it and by the end I found myself so hooked and really enjoying it.
The characters are well written. Our main character Jane is struggling and going through a lot of hardships that aren’t necessarily her doing and I really felt for her. Because we get to know the characters around Jane before she does – particularly Truman, who is a shifty wotsit – you end up wanting to protect her. There are a few secondary characters who are all fine but don’t quite match up to the main two.
There is quite a lot going on that it feels a little too much at times. It is fast paced at the beginning and at the end, but the middle does slow down a bit and it was harder to maintain my focus.
It’s got thriller elements and mystery, with a bit of romance thrown it, but for me, it doesn’t quite settle on something.
There are a lt of Norwegian references which, again, are not enough to ruin the enjoyment of it, but unless I missed it, apart from the synopsis there was no real context as to why this little town in the States were speaking Norwegian that it felt a little random.
I did enjoy it but there were a few things that I couldn’t ignore such as pacing and conflicting genres. But the last 30% or so really help balance the rest and saved it for me.
Books By Your Bedside 