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Beneath the Bright Surface: A Novel
Not yet published
Expected 23 Mar 27After a tragedy fractures her past, a woman must decide if survival is enough in this emotionally gripping novel about identity and trauma.
Este Foreman is on the verge of making it in Hollywood. The only Her life is built on a lie.
Today, Este is the polished assistant to actress Alyson Reeves. Ten years ago, however, she was Dr. Alexandra Sivak, a rising neurosurgeon in San Diego—until her boyfriend’s unsolved murder shattered her life and drove her into a new identity.
Now, a new love and a long-awaited professional opportunity have Este believing she can finally put the past behind her. But when another murder reopens the notorious case that erased her identity, Este is pulled back to Ocean Avenue, where everything went wrong.
Returning means remembering all the things she’s tried to the promising future she once had, the loss that stole it, and the unanswered questions swirling. As old relationships are tested, and buried emotions resurface, it becomes harder to maintain who she’s become. In order to move forward, Este must first go back and reassemble the pieces of who she used to be and what really happened that night.
Este Foreman is on the verge of making it in Hollywood. The only Her life is built on a lie.
Today, Este is the polished assistant to actress Alyson Reeves. Ten years ago, however, she was Dr. Alexandra Sivak, a rising neurosurgeon in San Diego—until her boyfriend’s unsolved murder shattered her life and drove her into a new identity.
Now, a new love and a long-awaited professional opportunity have Este believing she can finally put the past behind her. But when another murder reopens the notorious case that erased her identity, Este is pulled back to Ocean Avenue, where everything went wrong.
Returning means remembering all the things she’s tried to the promising future she once had, the loss that stole it, and the unanswered questions swirling. As old relationships are tested, and buried emotions resurface, it becomes harder to maintain who she’s become. In order to move forward, Este must first go back and reassemble the pieces of who she used to be and what really happened that night.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication March 23, 2027
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Alexandra and her boyfriend are both residents in neurosurgery when he is murdered, and suspicion falls briefly on her. She can’t take the notoriety, so she reinvents herself, changes her name to Este, and moves from San Diego to Hollywood. There, she becomes a personal assistant to an actress named Alyson who knows nothing about her past. Everything’s going fine until there’s another murder that resembles the now-cold case of her boyfriend. She’s drawn back into the case and works to keep her new life separate, but it gets increasingly difficult. Will she finally discover who ended her boyfriend’s life before her own is turned completely upside down?
Most of the book could have been avoided if Alexandra had just told everyone about her past on her own terms. But she justifies it with the old ‘they’ll want nothing to do with me’ reasoning even though she did nothing wrong. For a doctor, she makes some ridiculously dumb decisions. She continually lies to everyone in her Hollywood life (and continually gets caught doing so) rather than explain or even come up with a decent cover story.
And then there’s no big reveal about who the perpetrator was, no follow-up as to why that person wasn’t suspected before, just casual mentions, like “Oh, well that makes sense, I guess.” And the other mystery regarding the murder is never explained. The readers find out something regarding the murder partway through the story, and it doesn’t fit since Alexandra and her boyfriend were planning a future together, literally that day. None of the characters in question revealed anything that would explain why that situation occurred. I mean, I know that’s life, not always wrapped up neatly, but there was just too much left unanswered.
My thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the free advance reading copy of this book.
Most of the book could have been avoided if Alexandra had just told everyone about her past on her own terms. But she justifies it with the old ‘they’ll want nothing to do with me’ reasoning even though she did nothing wrong. For a doctor, she makes some ridiculously dumb decisions. She continually lies to everyone in her Hollywood life (and continually gets caught doing so) rather than explain or even come up with a decent cover story.
And then there’s no big reveal about who the perpetrator was, no follow-up as to why that person wasn’t suspected before, just casual mentions, like “Oh, well that makes sense, I guess.” And the other mystery regarding the murder is never explained. The readers find out something regarding the murder partway through the story, and it doesn’t fit since Alexandra and her boyfriend were planning a future together, literally that day. None of the characters in question revealed anything that would explain why that situation occurred. I mean, I know that’s life, not always wrapped up neatly, but there was just too much left unanswered.
My thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the free advance reading copy of this book.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
What if you witnessed the aftermath of a horrible murder—discovering the man you loved dead alongside another woman? Who was she, and why was she there? What if you couldn’t remember enough to make sense of what you’d found?
You flee, change your name, your appearance, your career. You build a life far enough from the one you lost that you begin to believe you’ve outrun the past. Then it crashes back into you.
In *Beneath the Bright Surface*, another identical murder brings the police back to someone who has already given them everything she has. Every answer she can offer. Every fragment she can recall. But how do you explain what you cannot remember? And how do you defend yourself when the gaps in your memory seem to invite other people to fill them?
She hasn’t killed anyone. Yet she has lost her career to innuendo and left behind a life she worked to build. She leaves in shame, carrying the consequences of something she didn’t do. There is something especially painful about that distinction: knowing you are innocent doesn’t mean you emerge untouched. Suspicion can become its own punishment.
What interests me most is the space between starting over and actually being free. A new name, a different appearance, another career can change how the world sees you. But they cannot necessarily change how you see yourself. When every decision is shaped by what you are trying to escape, even a carefully constructed new life can keep you tethered to the old one.
For me, this is where the story becomes more than a question of who committed a murder. It becomes a question of **identity**. Who are you when the work that defined you is gone? When other people’s assumptions have crowded out your own understanding of yourself? When you have spent so long trying not to be the person they remember that you no longer know who you want to become?
Letting go, in that context, isn’t as simple as forgetting. It means separating what happened to you from what belongs to you. The loss is real. So is the fear. But the shame of someone else’s violence, and the judgment that followed it, should never have been hers to carry.
I’m drawn to the idea that finding yourself might require more than rebuilding what was taken. It might mean questioning what you still want, what you have held onto out of fear, and what you are finally ready to put down. Not returning to an untouched version of yourself, as though nothing happened, but making room for a self who can acknowledge the past without organizing her entire life around it.
The murder draws you in. The possibility of reclaiming a life gives the story its emotional weight. Because outrunning the past and letting go of it are not the same thing. One keeps you looking over your shoulder. The other might finally allow you to look ahead.
You flee, change your name, your appearance, your career. You build a life far enough from the one you lost that you begin to believe you’ve outrun the past. Then it crashes back into you.
In *Beneath the Bright Surface*, another identical murder brings the police back to someone who has already given them everything she has. Every answer she can offer. Every fragment she can recall. But how do you explain what you cannot remember? And how do you defend yourself when the gaps in your memory seem to invite other people to fill them?
She hasn’t killed anyone. Yet she has lost her career to innuendo and left behind a life she worked to build. She leaves in shame, carrying the consequences of something she didn’t do. There is something especially painful about that distinction: knowing you are innocent doesn’t mean you emerge untouched. Suspicion can become its own punishment.
What interests me most is the space between starting over and actually being free. A new name, a different appearance, another career can change how the world sees you. But they cannot necessarily change how you see yourself. When every decision is shaped by what you are trying to escape, even a carefully constructed new life can keep you tethered to the old one.
For me, this is where the story becomes more than a question of who committed a murder. It becomes a question of **identity**. Who are you when the work that defined you is gone? When other people’s assumptions have crowded out your own understanding of yourself? When you have spent so long trying not to be the person they remember that you no longer know who you want to become?
Letting go, in that context, isn’t as simple as forgetting. It means separating what happened to you from what belongs to you. The loss is real. So is the fear. But the shame of someone else’s violence, and the judgment that followed it, should never have been hers to carry.
I’m drawn to the idea that finding yourself might require more than rebuilding what was taken. It might mean questioning what you still want, what you have held onto out of fear, and what you are finally ready to put down. Not returning to an untouched version of yourself, as though nothing happened, but making room for a self who can acknowledge the past without organizing her entire life around it.
The murder draws you in. The possibility of reclaiming a life gives the story its emotional weight. Because outrunning the past and letting go of it are not the same thing. One keeps you looking over your shoulder. The other might finally allow you to look ahead.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Este is the personal assistant to 30-something tv actress Alyson who is working on a deal to have her own spin off show. Este also works closely with Alyson’s agent, Benedict, who is also an important person to Este.
Alexandra is neurosurgeon resident in San Diego competing with her peers for opportunities and surgical time. She starts to fall in love, and then tragedy strikes in more than one way.
Through a series of flashbacks, we slowly learn the full story of the primary tragedy that shook the world of Alexandra forcing her to become Este. The story is tragic but includes rays of hope. The book is engaging and a quick read, and I think those who enjoy books about unfolding a mysterious past, facing up to ingrained beliefs,and fighting for your best future will find this book to be their cup of tea.
I am rating this 3 1/2 stars as the book was enjoyable but not a book I am likely to read again. I was drawn to this book after looking at the cover imagery and reading the blurb. I do recommend it if the blurb also catches your fancy, as I did enjoy the read. However, I found the character of Alyson acted much younger than her given age, which was surprising given her background. Otherwise, all of the other plot points made sense to me, and I thought the book came to a tidy conclusion.
Book provided via an advanced copy from NetGalley.
Alexandra is neurosurgeon resident in San Diego competing with her peers for opportunities and surgical time. She starts to fall in love, and then tragedy strikes in more than one way.
Through a series of flashbacks, we slowly learn the full story of the primary tragedy that shook the world of Alexandra forcing her to become Este. The story is tragic but includes rays of hope. The book is engaging and a quick read, and I think those who enjoy books about unfolding a mysterious past, facing up to ingrained beliefs,and fighting for your best future will find this book to be their cup of tea.
I am rating this 3 1/2 stars as the book was enjoyable but not a book I am likely to read again. I was drawn to this book after looking at the cover imagery and reading the blurb. I do recommend it if the blurb also catches your fancy, as I did enjoy the read. However, I found the character of Alyson acted much younger than her given age, which was surprising given her background. Otherwise, all of the other plot points made sense to me, and I thought the book came to a tidy conclusion.
Book provided via an advanced copy from NetGalley.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Beneath the Bright Surface begins with a woman who has done something most people only fantasize about. She walked away from her old identity entirely. Este is now working in Hollywood, but ten years earlier she was Alexandra, a rising neurosurgeon whose life collapsed after her boyfriend was murdered. Another death pulls her back toward the case and toward the person she worked so hard to stop being.
I am always interested in stories about reinvention because starting over sounds freeing until you think about what it actually requires you to abandon. Este has not simply changed careers or moved across the country. She has built an entire life around not being Alexandra anymore.
The Hollywood setting makes that especially fitting because so much of her new world is already built around image and performance. I liked the idea that solving the mystery may require her to stop treating her former self as someone she can permanently leave behind.
My sincere thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free advance review copy.
I am always interested in stories about reinvention because starting over sounds freeing until you think about what it actually requires you to abandon. Este has not simply changed careers or moved across the country. She has built an entire life around not being Alexandra anymore.
The Hollywood setting makes that especially fitting because so much of her new world is already built around image and performance. I liked the idea that solving the mystery may require her to stop treating her former self as someone she can permanently leave behind.
My sincere thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free advance review copy.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the eARC.
This is a riveting read about changing your identity and starting a brand-new life.
Ten years after she lost her love to murder, ending her career, a young woman escapes her life and becomes Este, the assistant to an upcoming Hollywood star.
Unfortunately, there is a similar case and the police call her in again, basically ruining her new life.
It was impossible to stop reading, I couldn't put the book down and finished very late at night ... my eyes are still in shock, lol.
This is a riveting read about changing your identity and starting a brand-new life.
Ten years after she lost her love to murder, ending her career, a young woman escapes her life and becomes Este, the assistant to an upcoming Hollywood star.
Unfortunately, there is a similar case and the police call her in again, basically ruining her new life.
It was impossible to stop reading, I couldn't put the book down and finished very late at night ... my eyes are still in shock, lol.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This is an intense thriller that will capture your attention and keep you reading until the last page.
Este has worked hard to recreate herself. One minute she's Dr. Alexandra Sivak, a bright neurosurgeon on her way to the top. In the blink of an eye, her life crashes, and now she's Este, trying to put her past behind her.
Este has worked hard to recreate herself. One minute she's Dr. Alexandra Sivak, a bright neurosurgeon on her way to the top. In the blink of an eye, her life crashes, and now she's Este, trying to put her past behind her.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews