"Schoolgirl missing", the ticker reads, and the camera cuts to a girl’s face. Blonde hair waterfalling over her shoulders, serious eyes, lips a little parted like she’s about to speak. That’s when I realize I’ve been holding my breath, because the gasp when I inhale almost chokes me.

Sadie Kelly has lost her job. Until last month, she was a teacher at Horton College - the same high school she went to 10 years ago along with her best friend, Fiona. But Fiona died in an accident on their graduation night, in circumstances Sadie’s spent the last 10 years trying to forget, and since then nothing’s been the same.

Now Sadie’s jobless and living with Fiona’s mother, Jan, the woman who’s watched over Sadie since she was a little girl, and the one person Sadie would do anything to protect. But when Sadie hears that Horton schoolgirl Devon Hundley has gone missing, everything changes. Devon is the daughter of Philip Hundley - wealthy school donor, local doctor, and a man Sadie knows all too well. And now Sadie can't help remembering the last time she saw Devon - and heard her whisper something Sadie's been trying ever since to forget....

A gripping pause resister of family secrets and buried lies for fans of Liane Moriaty, Lisa Jewell, and Catherine Ryan Hyde.