Call Me Elizabeth Lark

January 1, 2021
A domestic miracle that seems too good to be true is indeed entirely too good to be true. Twenty years ago, Gwen Barkley, who was supposed to be watching her little sister, allowed her attention to wander to her boyfriend, Jared Henderson, and Charlotte disappeared, presumed drowned. Now a woman who looks very much like the adult Gwen turns up with a little boy at the B&B Myra and Herb Barkley own with the highly distinctive necklace Charlotte was wearing when she vanished. Elizabeth Lark, as she introduces herself, must really be the missing daughter she's been grieving for years, thinks Myra. Only she's not; she's not even Elizabeth Lark. Instead, she's Elizabeth Briggs, who's given an overdose of painkillers to Peter Briggs, her abusive husband, and fled under a hastily assumed identity with her 5-year-old son, Theo. Both Myra and Gwen, stricken by guilt, are all too eager to take the newcomer to their hearts despite her protests. But their faux family reunion is shaded by ominous signs. A picture of Charlotte is defaced by an intruder; another picture is stolen; and someone hacks the brand-new security system Myra has had installed at the Barkley. As the complications and dark revelations mount--some of them, to be fair, a lot easier to swallow than others--one thing becomes clear: "Elizabeth Lark has saved and destroyed this family in one fell swoop." Readers who can look past all this suffocatingly suspenseful debut's coincidences are in for quite a ride.

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April 5, 2021
At the start of Colasanti’s distinctive debut, Elizabeth Lark and her five-year-old son, Theo, show up at the inn owned by Herb and Myra Barkley in Rocky Shores, Ore. Twenty years earlier, the Barkleys’ then eight-year-old daughter, Charlotte, disappeared from the beach near the inn. When Elizabeth drops a necklace that resembles one Charlotte gave to Myra’s other daughter, Myra is convinced that her missing daughter has returned. Much to the skeptical Herb’s dismay, Myra welcomes Elizabeth with open arms. Elizabeth, who recently escaped from a cabin in the woods after accidentally killing her captor who’d held her for 20 years, decides she must pretend to be Charlotte so she and Theo can have a home and be safe. Someone else knows the truth, however, and begins to stalk Elizabeth and Theo. Alarming family secrets subsequently surface and put everyone in danger. The author’s evocative prose is a joy to read, and the plot contains some great twists. Psychological suspense fans will be rewarded. Agent: Lauren Spieller, Triada.