Publisher's Weekly Review
Digital archaeologist Michaela Lambert, the narrator of this exceptional thriller from bestseller Hall (And Now She's Gone) has scheduled a meeting with Nadia Denham, the owner of an eclectic shop in a seedy Santa Barbara, Calif., shopping mall, who's in the early stages of Alzheimer's. Nadia has paid $5,000 to Michaela's company, Memory Bank, for the Mega-Memory Package, a holographic "next-generation digital scrapbook that will recall those special places she's visited as well as souvenirs, pictures, and objets d'art that she's acquired." The two hit it off, and an appointment to begin the project is set for later that evening. When Michaela arrives at the shop, she finds that Nadia dead, apparently a suicide. As Memory Bank has already cashed Nadia's check, Michaela decides to proceed with the project, having all the materials she needs and despite the strenuous objections of Nadia's shop manager. Meanwhile, a serial killer is on the loose, Michaela is sure she's being stalked, and disturbing revelations about her own life are surfacing as she delves into her mother's past in order to create a digital scrapbook. This cleverly plotted, surprise-filled novel offers well-drawn and original characters, lively dialogue, and a refreshing take on the serial killer theme. Hall continues to impress. Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyon Literary. (Aug.)
Kirkus Review
A young woman faces harsh realities in a thrilling new stand-alone from Hall, author of And Now She's Gone (2020). Mickie Lambert, the only child of doting parents, left a job in the communications department at her dad's accounting firm to work for an exciting new digital scrapbook company. Her latest assignment is compiling a $5,000 memory package for Nadia Denham, who owns a curio shop in a dying mall and has just been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. When Mickie goes to Beautiful Things to meet Nadia, Nadia gives her a number of her special treasures along with handwritten notes about them. Acquired on flea-market scouting trips, they all belonged to down-on-their-luck women she helped in some way. When Mickie starts getting creepy anonymous notes slipped under the front door of the home she shares with her parents, she fears that her parents are hiding something from her, especially once she realizes they've been locking their bedroom door when they're not home. Back at work, Mickie bonds with Nadia, who's slowly sinking into dementia, but not with Riley, the protective store manager at Beautiful Things. The more she researches Nadia's trips, the more she realizes that all the women she helped have either vanished or died. After Nadia herself dies, an apparent suicide, Mickie continues working on her prepaid memory project even as more threatening messages arrive, saying things like "Stop now or Payback is gonna come." Worn down to her last nerve despite the protection of her policeman uncle, she overcomes her scruples and breaks into a locked box she's found in her mother's nightstand, revealing a secret that drives her deeper into a perilous search for the truth. A mystery/thriller/coming-of-age story you won't be able to put down till the final revelation. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
In Hall's latest inventive thriller, following And Now She's Gone (2020), Michaela Lambert's new digital archaeology project takes her to the longstanding L.A. curio shop, Beautiful Things, to curate a digital scrapbook for the owner, Nadia Denham. Michaela is drawn in by Nadia's enthusiasm and passion for her shop's treasures, so the news that Nadia committed suicide hours after their meeting is shocking. When her boss asserts that Nadia's family will appreciate the memories she's already been paid to record, Michaela seizes the opportunity to understand Nadia's final act. Nadia's artifacts paint an interesting portrait: each is an object given to her by a disadvantaged woman she helped while on the road collecting curios. But Michaela's online searches for context reveal a harrowing pattern: each of the women in Nadia's scrapbook is missing or murdered. And Michaela's brushes with danger aren't limited to the web: she's being followed; a developer who wants to raze Beautiful Things' shopping center menaces its tenants; and Nadia's children are all kinds of shady. Michaela's narration is absorbing as she navigates Nadia's mysteries and faces secrets buried in her own unraveling past. Hall offers an intriguing serial-murder twist and an evocative tribute to one of L.A.'s historically Black neighborhoods.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Hall's books are garnering evermore attention and buzz; this distinctive and intriguing tale may be her breakout title.
