Miranda (Randi) Rader has worked very hard to become a valuable member of the Hammond, Louisiana police department. Even though she was a bit of a wild child as a teenager, she has turned her life around, and works as a successful and respected officer. But when she's called to investigate a vicious murder, she gets pulled into a dark and dangerous game that may bring to an end everything she has struggled so hard for.
Beloved college professor, and son of the college president, Richard Stark is found tied to his bed and mutilated, clearly the victim of no ordinary murder. The investigation is an important one, as his father is a friend of the chief of police, and Randi feels the pressure to solve the case and find the killer. She and her partner Jake Billings discover a couple of suspects, another college professor that Stark had been seeing more casually than she realized, and a former teaching assistant whose advances were rebuffed. But as strong as the emotions of betrayal or rejection are, these suspects don't seem angry or hurt enough to do the damage that Stark's killer did. Randi knows that there has to be another explanation.
When Randi's fingerprints turn up at the murder scene, and a newspaper article of her teenaged exploits turn up in Stark's home office, Randi starts to wonder if Stark is the only victim of this killer, or if she is being set up as well. And how does her past factor in? Clearly someone is trying to make a point, and if Randi doesn't figure out who it is and why, she may be the next one in mortal danger.
New York TImes bestselling author Erica Spindler has crafted yet another page-turning thriller. The Other Girl is a masterpiece of murder and malice, of secrets and lies, of double lives and the consequences of past choices. Well-paced and beautifully written, this is a twisty thriller that will keep you awake long past your bedtime. If you're a fan of the newly minted genre grip lit, then you need to grip this one tight and don't let go until you get to the end. Highly recommended.
Galleys for The Other Girl were provided by St. Martin's Press through NetGalley.com, with many thanks.