What happens when ambition trumps the truth?
A town reeling in the wake of tragedy
An arsonist is on the loose in Colmstock, Australia, most recently burning down the town’s courthouse and killing a young boy who was trapped inside.
An aspiring journalist desperate for a story
The clock is ticking for Rose Blakey. With nothing but rejections from newspapers piling up, her job pulling beers for cops at the local tavern isn’t nearly enough to cover rent. Rose needs a story—a big one.
Little dolls full of secrets
In the weeks after the courthouse fire, precise porcelain replicas of Colmstock’s daughters begin turning up on doorsteps, terrifying parents and testing the limits of the town’s already fractured police force.
Rose may have finally found her story. But as her articles gain traction and the boundaries of her investigation blur, Colmstock is seized by a seething paranoia. Soon, no one is safe from suspicion. And when Rose’s attention turns to the mysterious stranger living in the rooms behind the tavern, neighbor turns on neighbor and the darkest side of self-preservation is revealed.
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“Snoekstra creates a distinct sense of place; readers will visualize Colmstock and its wounded residents, struggling to get by. The novel touches on social issues, including xenophobia, police brutality, and the hunger for lurid news stories, as it twists and turns towards an unexpected ending.”
— Booklist
“Explores the devastation that occurs when desperate people act without considering the consequences…A suspenseful, multilayered puzzle, and the characters are complex and emotionally damaged, making this dark and twisted tale a veritable page-turner.”
— RT Book Reviews (4 stars)“Snoekstra does a nice job of creating atmosphere and putting the reader directly inside the lives of a handful of people who may represent the end of the innocence for their small town.”
— Bookreporter"[A] nail-biting thriller.”
— BookPageBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Anna Snoekstra, born in Canberra, Australia, is the author of four novels. She studied creative writing and cinema at Melbourne University, followed by screenwriting at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. She has made short films and music videos that have been screened internationally and worked as an arts reviewer for the Melbourne Review.
Saskia Maarleveld is an experienced voice-over actress and Earphones Award–winning narrator. Raised in New Zealand and France, she is highly skilled with accents and dialects, and many of her books have been narrated entirely in accents other than her own. In addition to audiobooks, her voice can be heard in animation, video games, and commercials.