Wherever She Goes

Once a stay-at-home mom who no longer has custody of her daughter, Aubrey is used to being regarded skeptically. But when the police refuse to believe her when she claims a child was taken from the park against his will, Aubrey gets angry enough to start investigating herself.

Starred review from April 1, 2019
At the start of this expertly crafted domestic thriller from bestseller Armstrong (Watcher in the Woods), Aubrey Finch, who has made mistakes in her life, and her three-year-old daughter, Charlotte, meet a little boy and his mother on an Oxford, Ill., playground. Days later, Aubrey witnesses the child’s apparent abduction. Police scour the area and are unable to find any parents with a missing kid, but Aubrey knows what she saw, and her certainty only grows when a Jane Doe matching the mom’s description turns up dead near the kidnapping site. The authorities continue to dismiss her concerns, so she resolves to save the boy herself. Though Aubrey’s old IT skills prove useful, she must be careful; if her estranged, straitlaced husband, Paul, learns about her criminal past, he could take full custody of Charlotte. Aubrey and Paul’s achingly poignant interactions add texture and depth, while clever twists, realistic complications, and a propulsive, present-tense narration catapult the story to a gratifying finish. This is a gripping tale of secrets, lies, and maternal anxieties. Agent: Helen Heller, Helen Heller Agency (Canada).

April 15, 2019
In a floundering marriage, a mother tries to balance her daughter's needs with those of a child she's met only once. The past casts a long shadow over Aubrey Finch. Her mother died in a car crash when she was a child, and her father, a longtime victim of PTSD, took his own life when she was a teenager. The crimes she committed to survive after his death are memories she shares with no one, not even her attorney husband, Paul. Bree struggles to be the best mother she can be to 3-year-old Charlotte, although she constantly reminds herself that she's not chic enough, savvy enough, or just plain good enough for her daughter. When she finally realizes she can never tell Paul about her past, she suggests a separation, leaving Charlotte in the family home and seeing her only on weekends. During one of these cherished visits, she takes Charlotte to the park, where she plays with a boy while Bree talks to his very young mother. A few days later, in the same park, she sees the boy lured into a SUV. She reports the abduction to the police, but as the days pass and no one reports a missing child, they start to treat her as an attention-seeking crank. An experienced hacker, Bree has the computer skills to search for the child on her own. But every step she takes to investigate the disappearance of a child whose name she doesn't even know risks the chance that Paul will find out enough about her past to make him withdraw the privilege of seeing her own daughter. Readers who can make it past the heroine's unrelenting self-flagellation that Armstrong (Watcher in the Woods, 2019, etc.) tosses into the early chapters will enjoy a tense thriller with a quirky romantic twist.

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May 1, 2019
Aubrey Finch is panic-stricken after witnessing a young boy being kidnapped from the local park, but when she reports it to the police, they dismiss her story, saying no one has reported a missing child. Aubrey knows she isn't the best witness. She's a struggling single mom who seems unreliable and a little unhinged, and everyone thinks that she got it wrong or is just looking for attention. Aubrey is convinced, however, that she knows what she saw was real and begins using skills from her former life to seek out the truth behind the boy's disappearance. This means asking for help from her ex-husband, Paul, but will he be able to forgive her after all the pain she caused during their marriage? Seeking atonement for past traumas, Aubrey decides to put it all on the line to find the boy, only to realize that she's not the only one looking for him. This fast-paced standalone thriller from Armstrong (Watcher in the Woods, 2019) unfolds to reveal complex truths, not only about the boy's disappearance but about Aubrey's past.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)