You can always count on Miranda to have a busy plot with a lot of characters but to tie up loose ends. This book was no different.

I enjoyed the townie vs college dynamics and how she touched on being a relatively young mother of a college student when some of her peers have elementary aged children. I thought every really felt like real people even her parents who were not in it a ton but ended up being pivotal. The rural college setting was a lot of fun and very evocative.

My only quibble with the book was how culpable Beckett was in the event from when she was a student. She really didn’t seem to do much of anything but was convinced then and now that it was a major crime. From how it read it seemed like her crime was taking a key and letting a door lock. Wouldn’t they have to prove that she knew that a crime was going to take place? Or that a crime took place? The crime was fatal in its consequences but it was one where if seemed like the police/lawyers would really have to prove that it wasn’t an accident. A torch lit up an old wood building. Men who shouldn’t have been on campus were caught in an old, quirky tunnel system. Why wouldn’t most people think it was just a tragic accident.

What made it look like a crime was largely her friend fleeing. It seems 50/50 at best that either would be charged with a crime. They were white college girls in the early 2000s.

I also wondered why the doors in the tunnel weren’t fire doors. I would think that would be standard since they were safety doors to contain steam.

So much of the book hinged on that and I didn’t feel like it made 100% sense. Everything else in the book did so that really stood out