Months earlier, Gina Forrester’s husband Rick went out to buy a newspaper, and never came back. Samantha Hayes’s In Too Deep begins with Gina trying to put the pieces of her life back together, but unable to move on because she just. doesn’t. know. Did someone murder Rick? Did he commit suicide? Did he just get tired of her, despite their being very much in love? There’s no evidence for any of these possibilities, and the police have long since given up. Six years before, Gina and Rick lived through the death of their son in a hit-and-run accident – the driver was never found – but the loss of her husband has hit her even harder.

Gina’s daughter Hannah is suffering as well. The narrative switches between the perspectives of these two women, and Hannah has a secret. She’s dropped out of college, though she can’t tell her mother this. She especially won’t tell her why, because her mother is struggling with her own problems. But then Gina gets a call from a woman called Susan who runs a hotel, and Susan wants to confirm the booking made for Gina’s upcoming anniversary – a booking made by Rick.

Surely a man planning suicide wouldn’t reserve a room in a luxury hotel for a surprise anniversary gift. Daring to hope a little, Gina decides to check into the hotel and see what, if anything, Rick might have told Susan. She takes Hannah with her, thinking this might be a nice vacation for Hannah, too. Unfortunately, Susan says she doesn’t know anything more about Rick. But she’s pleasant and friendly and she offers to introduce Hannah to her son when he comes home from college.

Disturbing things start to happen, though. Gina’s watch goes missing, and later someone wedges the door of the sauna shut when she’s inside, making her pass out from the heat and steam. Susan’s husband is supposedly away on business, but his car fits the description of the one which struck Gina’s son. And of course, everyone has something to hide, from Rick, the perfect husband, to polished, attractive Susan. The truth about why Hannah dropped out of college is especially well done. There were enough clues but it still came as a surprise to me.

Unfortunately, the revelation at the end is a letdown. It was far too implausible character-wise, and I needed an industrial crane to suspend my disbelief at that point. Also, if I ever abduct someone and they start a loud monologue that goes, ‘You don’t need to kidnap me. Please put the gun away and I’ll go with you to 851 Thornhill Road, Apartment 2B’, I’ll find the cell phone on which they secretly made a call, toss the phone out, and go to a different place.

Finally, there’s the last page. I’ll put this under a spoiler tag.

So to sum it up, In Too Deep is fast-paced and tense, and it entertained me while I was reading it. But I won’t remember anything afterwards except for the last page. There are worse stories out there, but there are better ones too, and next time I’ll try one of those instead.