Conor Reid has the perfect proposal planned. The detective with the Connecticut Police Major Crime Squad and his girlfriend Kate Woodward are vacationing at the posh Rhode Island Ocean House hotel. When they encounter Hadley Cooke there, their plans fall apart. Hadley is worried about her sister, renowned artist Maddie Morrison. Maddie and her six-year-old daughter CeCe are living at the hotel due to a contentious divorce. The two left the hotel as a blizzard hit, and haven't returned. When Hadley leaves to look for her sister, Conor and Kate follow. Hadley finds Maddie's murdered body, but CeCe is missing. Although Conor is sidelined from the official investigation, the Rhode Island police do keep him in the loop. He teams up to solve the case with his Coast Guard brother and Kate, who's knowledgeable about the art scene. The murder investigation and frantic search for the missing child tie together Maddie's past history as an artist and lover, in a story about the local community, jealousies, and greed. VERDICT Readers of Rice's previous novels involving art, family, and Conor (Last Day; The Shadow Box) will be most interested in this story, with its complicated conclusion.--Lesa Holstine

A prolific author blends characters old and new in a thriller tied to the destructive powers of greed and jealousy. Rice's latest novel literally starts with a bang. Acclaimed artist Maddie Morrison--her level of fame is compared to that of Andy Warhol and Banksy--is fighting her way through a raging blizzard on her way to meeting someone outside a historic hotel situated on Rhode Island's coastline. Within seconds, she's shot execution-style, and the killer finds her 6-year-old daughter, CeCe, hiding in the snow. The killer kidnaps CeCe, then Maddie's sister discovers her body, and the race to catch a killer and rescue CeCe explodes on the page. Rice fans will welcome the return of affable detective Conor Reid and Kate Woodward, his art historian girlfriend, who were featured in The Shadow Box (2021) and Last Day (2020), Rice's two most recent thrillers. The vast number of people who might want Maddie dead becomes shockingly evident as the investigation progresses. A gold-digging soon-to-be ex-husband tops the list, but Rice keeps the suspect pool growing as the tense search for CeCe continues and white- and blue-collar criminals crawl out of the proverbial woodwork. Rice's strengths as a storyteller pulse through this thriller, which she leavens with engaging observations on the art world, Rhode Island's natural beauty, and, most of all, what it means to be a sister, one of her most popular themes. If her characters' dialogue sometimes feels unnatural and stilted, their intense emotions and Rice's propulsive plotting easily make up for it. Maddie's murder is solved, but the motives and the complexity of the surprising conspiracy behind it will stay with readers. Take a deep breath and dive into this foreboding tale set on Rhode Island's seashore. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Hadley Cooke arrived at the fancy Ocean House in Providence, Rhode Island, excited to spend Christmas with her sister Maddie and niece CeCe. When they weren't at the hotel to greet her, she searched on a favorite path from their childhood visits. Hadley found her sister's body, but not six-year-old CeCe. Fellow guests Connecticut state police detective Conor Reid and his long time girlfriend, Kate Woodward, were next on the scene, quickly becoming professionally and emotionally involved. Was Maddie killed by someone who knew her personally, or was this connected to her fame as a wealthy artist? And where's CeCe? The action is nonstop, but that doesn't overshadow the human connections between key players and the possibly suspect secondary characters. As Hadley, Connor, and Kate create their own investigative team and support system, there's a constant influx of clues for readers to sift through. The portion of the story told from CeCe's point of view contributes to the bigger mystery in clever ways. Fans of Nora Roberts, Sheryl Woods, and Robin Carr will enjoy Rice's latest.