Morgan Prager, a masters student at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, has been working on her thesis exploring the idea that identifying what makes a victim could help change the definition of a predator.  To that end she has been working on a creating a test that would identify victims whose extreme selflessness and hyper-empathy attracts predators.  Her recent attendance at a lecture regarding battered wife syndrome had been so stimulating that it had made her want to redouble her efforts to complete the test. But while walking home to her apartment in Brooklyn, Morgan remembered that Bennett her boyfriend was unexpectedly in town and that would limit her ability to jump into her research Feeling a bit guilty for even having these thoughts she reaches her front door and finds it ajar.  Assuming that Bennett must have left it open she calls out to let him know she is home and then notices red paw prints on the floor. Trying to figure out what her three dogs had gotten into, she follows the trail her the dogs have left behind and finds the grisly sight of her boyfriend on the bedroom floor apparently mauled to death by her three dogs.

Stunned by the horrific sight and the the fact that her dogs are now impounded and slated to be destroyed for the apparent killing of her boyfriend, Morgan struggles to come to terms with what has happened.  She tries to contact his parents, dreading what she must tell them, but the address and names that Bennett gave her do not exist and after pursuing things just a bit further she finds that his whole life was a lie and that he lived numerous lives under various different names with other women. Realizing that her life with Bennett was a lie is devastating enough but when these other women begin to die under mysterious circumstances, Morgan must get past her loss and fight to save her own life.

This was quite an exciting book! The twists and turns of the plot line and the pacing of the revelations kept the book suspenseful and interesting. Like Girl On The Train, or Gone Girl, this book explores what happens when what we thought was real is not really real at all!

Written by Amy Hempel and Jill Ciment, friends of Katherine Russell Rich, an accomplished writer who died of breast cancer before she was able to write about her own experiences in dating a man who had many different lives, who decided to collaborate on a book that would honor Rich’s wish to tell that story and they have done an extraordinary job!

Brenda’s Rating: ****(4 out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Sharon, Marian and Lauren

Book Study Worthy? Yes

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