THE DROWNING RIVER
by Kim Byrne
A graduate student’s arrival on campus causes quite a stir.
Elise Moloney has chosen Wickman College over Harvard to spare her adoptive parents further expense. Elise and her flamboyant roommate Kat Herrera are surprised by the strange reaction so many people have to seeing Elise until fellow grad student Parker Reilly informs her she’s a dead ringer for Hannah McPhee, a student who was killed in a fall from a bridge. When Elise is told they even have the same birthday, she realizes Hannah must have been her twin and becomes obsessed with finding out more about Hannah, her life with their sluttish mother and her mysterious death. She swiftly becomes involved with those claiming to know Hannah best. Hannah had recently dumped her boyfriend Gavin, now a police officer whose father, the chief, may be covering up a crime to protect his son. Things go from bad to worse when her mother admits to Elise that she sold her as a baby; threatening letters turn up telling her to quit investigating; and her romantic interest in Parker is threatened by the sense that he’s withholding information. Seeking safety, she starts dating her ex-fiancé Nick Carrano. But in the end, taking chances proves to be the only way for Elise to find the truth.
A debut with romance, thrills, chills, red herrings and a surprise ending.