One of Us

August 1, 2014
Danny Doyle became a forensic psychologist in hopes of understanding why his mother murdered his baby sister, Molly. But probing the criminal mind may also prove helpful in solving a new murder. O'Dell (Fragile Beasts, 2010, etc.) returns to the forgotten towns of Western Pennsylvania in her latest psychological thriller. A bookish, bullied child, Danny, who goes by Sheridan professionally, grew up in the impoverished town of Lost Creek. Founded upon the backs of Irish immigrants who mined coal for the rich boss, Walker Dawes, it's a town with a troubled past. The residents are haunted by the legend of the Nellie O'Neills, 10 miners who violently rebelled and were hanged for their audacity. Danny's great-great-grandfather was one of those rebels. Saddled with an abusive father and a mentally ill mother, Danny was protected and practically raised by his maternal grandfather, the gruff Tommy. Now a polished professional living in Philadelphia, he devotes his money to Armani suits and his attention to serial killers. He doesn't want to cure the criminals he studies so much as understand them. Prompted by Tommy's bout with pneumonia and his mother's release from her latest psychiatric facility, Danny has come home just in time to help Rafe Malloy, his childhood mentor and Lost Creek's sole detective, investigate the death of Simon Husk, whose body was found at the foot of the infamous gallows. Scarlet Dawes, the great-great-granddaughter of the man who sentenced the rebels to death, has also come home. Posh boarding schools and a glamorous lifestyle in Paris mark her as an outsider, but she cautions her alcoholic mother that she won't leave until she discovers the truth behind a blackmailer's note. Soon she's crossing paths with Danny, and their mysteries begin to overlap. Personal demons, childhood traumas and class warfare add up to a gritty tale of vengeance.

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March 15, 2014
When Dr. Sheridan Doyle returns to his blue-collar mining-town roots, he finds a dead body near the Lost Creek gallows where resistant Irish miners had been executed years ago. Investigating with a famed local detective brings him close to perilous family truths. O'Dell is author of the Oprah's Book Club pick "Back Roads".

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2014
Forensic psychologist Dr. Sheridan Doyle returns to his creepy hometown of Lost Creek, Pennsylvania. The gritty former coal town is best known as the site of a famous gallows, where a band of miners were publicly executed in the 1800s. Doyle has a lot of reasons to stay awayhis father was abusive, his mother was convicted of killing his baby sisterbut his beloved grandfather is ill and wants to see him. When Doyle arrives in Lost Creek, he begins to feel claustrophobic and decides to clear his head with a run. He ends up at the gallows, where he stumbles across a dead body. Black sheep Scarlet Dawes left town in disgrace but returns at the same time as Doyle. She holds many secrets (her family owned the mines and was responsible for the hangings), and she may know something about the dead body . . . and about the other recent murders in town. Twists and turns and family secrets abound in this tightly plotted thriller.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)