Girl, Forgotten

Slaughter’s (False Witness) 22nd book, the second in the “Andrea Oliver” series (following Pieces of Her), begins two years after Andrea learned that her mother was in witness protection and that her childhood was built on lies. Andrea is no longer the timid woman whose life was turned upside down in the series’ first installment. Now she’s a newly deputized United States Marshal, eager to take control and start life on her terms. Her first official assignment takes her to the small Delaware town of Longbill Beach to protect federal judge Esther Vaughn. She is also asked, unofficially, to investigate the 1982 murder of Judge Vaughn’s daughter Emily, who was pregnant and a high school senior at the time. This assignment is personal—the prime suspect in Emily Vaughn’s murder is Andrea’s currently imprisoned father, who might be paroled sooner than she or Judge Vaughn is comfortable with. The plot of Slaughter’s thriller unfolds over a dual timeline—the contrasts between the novel’s 1982 and 2022 United States cannot be ignored—as Andrea uncovers a truth that has been hidden for 40 years.