
When two couples collide after a husband vanishes, loyalty becomes a deadly game. Mary Kubica's five-million-copy bestseller asks: how well do you know your spouse? "Grabs you on page one" - Laura Dave, leaving readers breathless until the final twist.
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Nina Hayes thought she had built the perfect life. A passionate high school English teacher married to Jake, a brilliant neurosurgeon, they lived in a beautiful Victorian home in Brookline with dreams of filling its five bedrooms with children someday. But cracks had formed in their foundation-Jake's resistance to starting a family had grown stronger each year, citing his seventy-hour workweeks and his own childhood wounds from an absent father. Their marriage showed increasing strain as Nina shouldered the growing responsibility of caring for her mother, Eleanor, who battled advancing macular degeneration and a suspicious mammogram result. After a particularly heated argument where Nina, exhausted from another day at the hospital with her mother, rashly tells Jake, "If you hate it here so much, then why don't you just leave?" she wakes to an empty bed and unanswered texts. Initially assuming he's seeking space at the Four Seasons-his usual retreat during their worst fights-alarm bells ring when his chief resident calls, asking why Dr. Hayes missed morning rounds, something unprecedented in his fifteen-year career. Nina's concern spirals into terror when she discovers his laptop still on his desk, passport in their safe, and favorite running shoes by the door. When she finally files a missing persons report, Officer Boone's skepticism is palpable. He methodically notes their argument, Jake's perfect work record, and their recent marriage counseling sessions, strongly implying Jake's disappearance appears voluntary. But what happened to the brilliant surgeon who seemingly vanished without a trace?
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