"I couldn't stop reading. Berlanga has crafted a masterful psychological thriller that kept me up all night. Just when I thought I had it figured out, the twist completely blindsided me. This is the kind of book you'll want to discuss with everyone you know-brilliant, haunting, and utterly unforgettable!" -Advance Reader Review
The mothers on Willow Lane are hiding something. And Maya's daughter is next.
Maya Reynolds just wanted a fresh start. After a messy divorce, she moves to the picture-perfect neighborhood of Willow Lane with her eight-year-old daughter Emma. The mothers are welcoming. The children are obedient. Everything seems ideal.
But Maya notices things. The way the mothers speak in unison. The identical parenting mantras. How their daughters never raise their voices, never misbehave, never step out of line. When Sarah Chen-the neighborhood's charismatic leader-smiles and says, "Quiet girls are happy girls," every mother nods in agreement.
Then Maya discovers the these women are survivors of The Sanctuary, a doomsday cult disbanded by the FBI twenty years ago. And they're rebuilding it.
Emma is already changing. She's stopped laughing. Stopped asking questions. She recites strange phrases in her sleep. Maya knows she needs to get out, but the mothers have thought of everything. They've infiltrated the school board, local law enforcement, even child protective services. One mother who tried to leave lost custody of her daughter-legally, systematically, permanently.
Maya is trapped. Fight back and lose Emma through the system. Stay silent and lose Emma to the cult.
But as Maya investigates the mothers' dark past, she uncovers something that changes everything-a connection between herself and The Sanctuary that she's spent her entire life trying to forget.
The winter solstice ceremony is in three weeks. Fifteen children will be initiated. Emma's name is on the list. And Maya must confront not only the cult that's hunting her daughter, but the buried memories of her own past.
Because the mothers didn't choose Maya randomly.
They've been looking for her for twenty years.
A pulse-pounding psychological thriller about buried memories, the legacy of trauma, and how far a mother will go to save her child. Perfect for fans of Big Little Lies, The Silent Patient, and Little Fires Everywhere.