A mother/daughter tale of what happens when one mother is faced with the ultimate decision: save her daughter from a kidnapping or rely on the police to do a mother’s job?

Simone would burn the world down for her daughter Lucy. So when Lucy vanishes from their Texas rental cabin on the first morning of their camping trip, Simone’s whole life is ripped open. In Lucy’s place is a cell phone and a chilling ransom call with one rule: tell no one. Even when her husband insists she call the police, Simone knows she can’t risk it and instead heads into the desert alone for the ransom meetup.

What she finds isn’t a demand for money… it’s a demand for something much worse. Everything spirals into a brutal chain of choices and consequences that stretch far beyond her family. As Simone tears across the remote Texas landscape, she’s forced to confront the darkest edges of fear, love, and what being a mother really costs.

This is my first Gillian McAllister book so I went in blind to what type of stories she concocts.

The book started off strong and had me hooked right away. I liked that it quickly went into the kidnapping and started the wild ride.

I found this to be a slow burn that left me with moments of feeling disengaged from the story. After the 30% mark, I started to lose steam and wasn’t feeling as connected. I really struggled to like Simone and Lucy: I found them to be frustrating and living in their own world filled with stupidity. While chaotic at times, I do think McAllister led Simone into making decisions that reflect a mother’s instinct.

I still found the story to be interesting and I was committed to finding out how they made it out of this situation together (could they?!)

The ending felt too easy and too perfect but was enjoyable.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!