The Chaperones

by Amy Meyerson

From the internationally bestselling author of The Water Lies comes a propulsive psychological thriller about privileged parents and their kids on an idyllic camping trip that turns deadly.

The third-grade parents at the elite Chester School don’t do anything small—not their drama and certainly not their end-of-year trips. As they set out to the remote island of Santa Cruz off the coast of Southern California, where the only amenity is running water and help is a ninety-minute boat ride away, they may have finally gotten in over their heads.

Stranded by a sudden storm, the chaperones wake to find two children missing from their tents.

The search for the boys leads to a body—and a surfacing of secrets that were meant to stay buried.

Because there’s someone else on the island. Someone with secrets of their own. Someone who shouldn’t be there. And has every reason to stay.

The Chaperones is a locked room thriller that will keep readers guessing about who’s dead and who’s capable of murder, and whose secrets started it all.

Kindle Edition

Expected publication December 8, 2026

About the author

Amy Meyerson is the internationally bestselling author of The Water Lies, The Bookshop of Yesterdays, The Imperfects, and The Love Scribe. Her books have been translated into eleven languages and are frequently chosen for best-of lists, including lists from Good Morning America, People Magazine, Publishers Weekly, The Christian Science Monitor, Library Journal, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Texas Library Association’s Lariat List, among others. Meyerson completed her graduate work in creative writing at the University of Southern California, where she now teaches in the writing department. Her next suspense novel, The Chaperones, will be published by Thomas & Mercer.