The Last Place You Look

April 17, 2017
Convicted killer Bradford Stockton, whose case propels Lepionka’s action-packed if uneven debut, is scheduled to be executed in two months for the stabbing murder 15 years earlier of the parents of his girlfriend, Sarah Cook. Sarah went missing the day of the crime and is presumed dead. After Brad’s sister, Danielle, thinks she sees Sarah outside a suburban Ohio gas station, she hires PI Roxane Weary to find Sarah, in the hope that doing so will prove Brad’s innocence. While Roxane investigates, she’s harassed by phone calls from someone who breathes heavily but says nothing. Moreover, her car is broken into, the police keep pulling her over for no reason, and she spots a man looking into her apartment window. A loving but dysfunctional family and a habit of overdrinking don’t make matters any easier for her. Lepionka has created an appealing, relatable lead, but she falters near the end as Roxane takes too many unlikely risks. Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.