When You Leave Me — Susan Wingate

On the surface, a small, remote island in the Pacific Northwest looks quaint and placid. However, trouble brews deep below the water when the island is rocked by an unexpected, brief and violent earthquake, and Jamie Michael's husband, Larry, who has dementia, goes missing. Det. Sgt. Rob Rimmler along with Search & Rescue deploy forces. They scour the grounds and neighborhood only to find a widening gorge on Jamie's property—a heavily wooded, five-acre rural country plot. After giving up the search for Larry, three months later, Rimmler begins to track Jamie's every movement—appearing wherever she ends up whether in town or while alone at home. One night, he admits he suspects her. Now, she must prove her innocence or end up indicted on murder charges. Sometimes when you think all seems lost, it usually is. Praise for WHEN YOU LEAVE ME: A twisty mystery about love, betrayal, and obsession. In a small town, everyone's a murder suspect. The ending packs a punch and remains in the reader's mind long after turning the final page. Thriller aficionados will devour this story. —Robert Dugoni, New York Times bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite series A cup of hot coffee at my side, I dove into Susan Wingate's When You Leave Me. The coffee was cold when I reached for a sip, so enthralled I was by the storyline. Artfully constructed, melodic, and insightful, When You Leave Me is not just a complex, captivating mystery—it's a poignant reminder to never take love for granted. —Christopher Rosow, author of the bestselling False Assurances and the Ben Porter thriller series Susan Wingate grabs you from the very first sentence of When You Leave Me and never lets you go. This thriller is a roller coaster ride of tension and suspense, delivered in punchy, elegant prose and with dialogue that provides a window into the personalities of the author's characters. You're going to love this one. —Joseph Badal, award-winning author of The Carnevale Conspiracy What Susan Wingate does best in When You Leave Me, as in her previous novels, is to make human pain palpable to the reader. In this newest offering, threads of pain run through every page. On San Juan Island off the coast of Washington, a husband with dementia goes missing. Then a foot in a sneaker washes ashore amidst a rash of such grotesque discoveries. Thus begins, for Jamie Michaels, the missing man's wife, a tormented journey as she claws her way through a sea turgid with grief, guilt, and fear. Is Jamie responsible for her husband's fate? The police seem to think so, and so does she. But that, in the end, isn't the question. The real questions, as every person knows who has ever cared for a loved one with dementia, are how long must this punishment last? And how can I possibly survive it? –Randall Silvis, author of the critically acclaimed Ryan DeMarco mystery series