The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas

2016, Random House

Tessa and Callie were nine years old when Lori was murdered, and it was these two that put the Ohio River Monster behind bars.  Everyone in Fayette, Pennsylvania was relieved this horrible chapter in their lives was over.

Almost ten years have passed and Tessa and Callie are completely different girls.  Callie's life was full of scholarships, friends and a stable family that has continued to live in Fayette despite their family loss.  Tessa, on the other hand, lost her father to the prison system, her sister to her fierce independence, and her mother to who knows where.  She moved to Florida to live with her grandmother and expects to attend university in the fall after working as a waitress to make it happen.

Then the phone call comes...

Tessa once more finds herself in Fayette, but under very different circumstances.  Her father is dying and her once best friend Callie won't talk to her (even though she's staying at her house at the insistence of Callie's mom).  When Tessa goes to the prison to see her father one last time, she is told he died but her sister was there.  Tessa, who hasn't seen her family in ten years, is frantic to find her sister, but the path to her is becoming more difficult than Tessa imagined.

But Fayette hasn't shaken the Ohio River Monster yet.  Everyone thought he was in prison for the rest of his life, but a new trial is slated once again, where new evidence is to be released.  More terrifying is the fact that another girl has been found murdered in the same style as the other victims.  Callie and Tessa are once again confronted with personal tragedy because the victim was a friend of theirs, someone who was in Callie's inner circle.  Coincidence or copycat?

Callie and Tessa decide it's time to confront the past and begin to find answers to the present.  When they begin to pursue this, they have no idea one of them may be the next victim....

Kara Thomas is not only a storyteller, she's a story weaver.  Although this is the main plot of the novel, there are other threads of mystery woven into the lives of the main characters that will catch the reader's attention.  There are no lull moments in this book.  When the unraveling begins, hang on, because it will be a fast and furious ride.  Recommended 9-12th grades