cover image And Then There Was One

And Then There Was One

Patricia Gussin, Oceanview (Midpoint, dist.), $25.95 (312p) ISBN 978-1-933515-81-6

At the start of this gripping suspense novel from Gussin (The Test), two out of three identical girl triplets, nine-year-olds Sammie and Alex Monroe, disappear from a movie theater at a suburban Detroit mall after leaving their sister, Jackie, and a cousin, who go to the theater next door. An FBI team quickly steps in and works closely with the triplets' sports commentator father, Scott, and his African-American wife, Katie, a physician who investigates child sexual abuse. The red herrings multiply as Scott and Katie try to recall who would want to harm them by taking their daughters. The fear and anguish the Monroes feel as they search for their missing children will resonate with many readers, but others may have trouble with some clumsy prose ("The evil he'd seen in human beings defied logic and exceeded the worst horrors that most people could not even dream"). (Oct.)