All the Way Home - Softcover

Staub, Wendy Corsi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786010924 ISBN 13: 9780786010929

Publisher: Pinnacle Books, 2000

Synopsis

One of the few people who remember the disappearance of her older sister and three other girls ten years ago, Rory Connelly returns to find her family falling apart and is thrust back into the nightmare of her childhood when another girl vanishes on the anniversary of the disappearances. Reprint.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

From Wendy Corsi Staub, the acclaimed author of Fade to Black, comes a masterful new work of domestic suspense...

ALL THE WAY HOME.

Lake Charlotte. A quiet little town in upstate New York. The perfect place to raise a family. Or is it? People still talk about that summer ten years ago when four teenage girls mysteriously disappeared. No on remembers that summer more vividly than Rory Connolly. Her older sister Carleen vanished from her bed in the middle of the night, never to be seen again. The fear and uncertainty of Carleen's fate destroyed Rory's family and her only escape was college. When she left Lake Charlotte, she vowed never to return. But now, ten years later, Rory Connolly is coming home.

It's only supposed to be for the summer while her brother's away. Until then, Rory has to cope with her mother's slow descent into insanity and her rebellious teenage sister Molly. The arrival of Barrett Maitland only makes things worse. The handsome stranger knows to much about the past and is constantly asking Rory questions. She wants to trust him, but can't; she's caught him in one lie too many. It's almost as if he has something to hide.

Then, on the anniversary of the very first disappearance, another teenage girl vanishes. Just like Carleen. Once again, Lake Charlotte is gripped in fear, and for Rory, it's the past nightmare revisited. Only this time, her own life is in jeopardy. For walking through the streets of the town, wearing a familiar face, is a cunning killer with a chilling personal message:

"Welcome home, Rory. You've been gone such a long time, but now that you're back, you're never going to leave Lake Charlotte again..."

From Publishers Weekly

Survivors of a long-ago crime in upstate New York relive the terror when teenage girls start disappearing once again in this suspense novel from the prolific Staub (Fade to Black). After Rory Connolly's father dies, she goes home to Lake Charlotte, N.Y., to care for her rebellious 13-year-old sister, Molly, and their disturbed mother. But Rory can't shake her memories of the four girls who vanished 10 years agoAamong them her older sister, Carleen, and her best friend and next-door neighbor, Emily Anghardt. Rory calls in her mom's old friend Sister Theodosia, but the dour, aged nun only casts more gloom. Molly proves to be an obstreperous handful who provokes Rory into revealing the secret surrounding Molly's birth. No wonder Rory leaps at the attentions of handsome Barrett Maitland, who may or may not be a crime writer doing research. The Anghardt house's current occupant, Michelle Randall, is about to give birth, and Molly babysits for Michelle's toddler, Ozzie, fearing every creak and thump from Ozzie's room. Crisis hits when Molly's best friend, Rebecca, disappears on the anniversary of Carleen's abduction, and the horrified townspeople direct renewed attention to Michelle's house. Staub's scary plot expertly mixes teen and adult perspectives and themes, but too often buries the action under passages of extended exposition that dull the tension and slow the pace of the narrative. The characters are well drawn, however, and the atmosphere is suitably gothic. Staub keeps readers guessing through a series of believable red herrings and clues. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Pinnacle Books
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0786010924
• ISBN 13: 9780786010929
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 412