The seemingly heroic death of a police officer in saving a teenage girl from drowning has a ripple affect throughout his inner circle. Secrets are revealed and mournful love is tested. The stages of Grief are examined. Lifetime movie good.

Copy provided by the Publisher and NetGalley

How do you cope with death? And how do you cope with sadness? And betrayal?
Highly emotionally intelligent and kind book about the one who left and the ones who has stayed.

Mike Gray was a good cop and what is more, a good person. He died while saving a teenager drowning on a winter night.
His wife Elizabeth is broken. So is his mother Patricia, friends Andy and Blake and Elizabeth's sister Mel. This is hard and Mike is dearly missed.
Young Kate is broken, too. But there is much more to Kate's brokenness that "just" being a reason for death.

This book is very emotional read - mostly because it deals with a whole spectre of emotions. There is a group of people affected by the death and issues connected to it - and they feel, they cope, they hope, they doubt. And all of this dealing is done beautifully by the writer and with a high level of empathy and understanding. You just DO get the people involved (even if some of them are hard to deal, life Kate's womanizing father Rufus). Everyone has their own story and their own issues. And you just wish for them in your life, even if they can anger you from time to time like no else.

And this is also a book about the good people's secrets and mistakes. And their impact. And again, how the people deal with it.

Everyday story, and yet exceptional. A nice, warm read - even if the topic is sad, because the novel shows yet another side of life, the one we all are prone to. And this common issue makes us connected in our humanity.