Many thanks to NetGalley, Kensington Publishing | Citadel, and Tantor Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of this true crime book by Caitlin Rother, with the audiobook wonderfully narrated by Christina Delaine. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4 stars!

A Southern California family of four seemed to just disappear without a trace in 2010. Everything at home looked normal with no signs of a crime, but the family was just gone. Almost four years later, a motorcyclist found the McStays' remains in the desert, showing signs of murder. A suspect was found, put on trial, and sentenced to death. But is that the end of the story?

This was a very well-researched account of this crime, with questionable actions by the investigators, and a controversial trial. The author did a great job of walking through the suspects, the crime scene and investigation, and trial. It's such a sad story and leaves you questioning the system. Pick this one up if you like a true crime mystery ripped out of the headlines.

The first 2/3 of this book was really interesting, I felt like I didn’t want to stop listening because I was waiting to hear what came next.

Unfortunately, the last 1/3 took a nose dive. The talk of the trial and prosecution had so many people, and so many things happening (many of which didn’t feel especially important, but more to show bickering and shame everyone involved) that I couldn’t wait for it to be over. I don’t feel like I was able to really keep track of that last 1/3 of appreciate what the author was trying to communicate. It felt about as botched as it seemed like the investigation was.

All in, I’d still recommend taking a look if it interests you - perhaps you can find something in that last bit that I didn’t.