Good as Gone

Thirteen-year-old Julie Whitaker was kidnapped from her bedroom in the middle of the night, witnessed only by her younger sister. Her family was shattered, but managed to stick together, hoping against hope that Julie was still alive. And then one night the doorbell rings. A young woman who appears to be Julie is finally, miraculously, home safe. The family is ecstatic, but Anna, Julie's mother, has whispers of doubts. She hates to face them. She can't avoid them. When she's contacted by a former detective turned private eye, she begins a torturous search for the truth about the woman she desperately hopes is her daughter.

Amy Gentry is a book reviewer for the Chicago Tribune whose work has also appeared in Salon, LA Review of Books, and the Best Food Writing of 2014. Good as Gone is her first novel.