Gone for Good

Elizabeth Hampton has not spoken to her mother in weeks when she gets the phone call informing her that her mother has been found dead in suspicious circumstances.

Not only does Elizabeth have to cope with the overwhelming grief and guilt that arises from these circumstances, but she also learns that her brother Ronnie, who has Downs Syndrome, is the prime murder suspect.  Events take a further twist when Elizabeth learns that her mother recently changed her will to include a third beneficiary – a stranger, who is also called Elizabeth.

Desperate to clear her brother of the charge of killing his mother, Elizabeth delves into her mother’s past, and discovers some dark secrets there.

This is a taut thriller revolving around a family with troubles and secrets, and characters that are all too realistic in their flaws and foibles. Elizabeth herself comes over sometimes as self-absorbed and a tad annoying, but as a twenty-six year old graduate student, she is a young woman still trying to come to terms with what it means to be a grown up, and the grief and isolation she experiences when she learns that she is an orphan, is sympathetically done and very realistic.  Elizabeth, a year younger than her brother, also has the added burden of a lifelong resentment against the knowledge that she was only conceived because her mother – in her mid-thirties when Ronnie was born – worried about her Downs Syndrome son having no one to take care of him when she passed away.

It’s a book that’s full of surprises and will keep you engrossed as Elizabeth delves further into her mother’s history and discovers that she really didn’t know her at all.  In addition to an intriguing mystery, this is a book about family secrets and sibling rivalries and about how, in the end, family ties are always firm no matter what.

Readers should be aware that this book was originally released under the title ‘Never Come Back’.