EVERYONE IS PERFECT HERE

A young woman’s life is turned upside down when her past resurfaces in a disturbing way.

Carly Bennett’s life was ordinary until she was 12, when her single mother, Emily, married wealthy doctor Christopher White, who had two sons from an earlier marriage: Julien, a manipulative, drop-dead gorgeous psychopath of 17, and 15-year-old Victor, who seemed like a normal kid. Carly, who had asthma and developed other health problems from stress, was shocked when she got into trouble in high school for writing a threatening letter to a teacher—even though she hadn’t written it. The handwriting certainly looked like hers, and despite her denials, she was expelled. Her stepfather sent her to a boarding school in San Francisco, and while she was there, her mother was murdered during an apparent robbery. Carly always suspected Julien was behind her troubles, but his smooth lies couldn’t be overcome. Rebuilding her life was difficult; now she’s a creative writing professor at the University of Southern California, but her problems continue when a janitor who’d been stalking her is murdered, making her a suspect. Her graduate assistant, Rebecca Hunter, seems to support her but slowly takes over many of her duties, leaving Carly to face an uncertain future, job-wise. Carly can only trust her friend from boarding school days, Ava Patel, now a bounty hunter with a lawyer ex-husband; both are working to solve Carly’s problems. Both Julien and Victor reappear in her life, apparently supportive, but Carly can’t get over her distrust of Julien. Everything that happens enmeshes her more deeply in a plot she suspects Julien of masterminding—but she can’t fathom why.

This tense psychological thriller, where nothing is as it seems, will keep you on edge until the final reveal.