Reviews with content warning for Fatphobia - In Bitter Chill

Focusing on two kidnapped girls, the book follows 30 years from when these occurred with one girl returning and the other never being found. Rachel was left alone in the woods while Sophie wasn't ever seen again. She remembers that her and Sophie were lured to the car, but not what happened to her friend. We find out that Rachel is now a genealogist working with DC Connie Childs

and this leads her to discover the woman who was behind the original kidnapping of both her and Sophie and why she was left alone in the woods to be found while Sophie wasn't seen again. Kicking off with Sophie's mother Yvonne's death and continuing with the teacher Penny Lander's strangulation, the town becomes a claustrophobic space full of secrets. Yvonne's death is from grief after getting one of Sophie's socks while Penny was too close to the truth and was murdered for it. The family tree and secrets discovered by Rachel explains what happened. She asks her elderly grandmother about her family and learns about adoptions, suspected incest, adoptions, and illegitimate births, resulting in an uncle she never knew.

I was more interested in Rachel than Connie and none of the love subplots did it for me.

Content Warnings

More...