The newest next thriller from #1 Bestselling Author Sarah Pekkanen combines a decades-old mystery with spine-tingling paranormal elements in this twisty novel of the seen and unseen.

Extrasensory perception.
The Gift.
A Sixth Sense.
Or something else….

In 1964, four remarkable young women at a prestigious university became the subjects of parapsychology experiments by a visionary scientist. On the cusp of a historic breakthrough, the women mysteriously vanished and the program was erased from history. Decades later, Riley Bell, newly divorced and desperate for a fresh start, accepts a caretaker job for an elderly widow named Betty. Riley steps into a home that is frozen in another era – no microwave, television, or cell phones, and Betty has never heard of the internet. Why has Betty lived in such profound isolation for so many years, and why does she need Riley now? As the story unfolds across two timelines – Betty’s 1960s era of 5 o’clock martinis and high-stakes experiments, and Riley’s quest to uncover the truth about the missing women – old secrets rise to the surface. And the only way to survive is to confront the mystery that has lingered for sixty years.

I really liked the combination of history and mystery with a bit of thriller flavor running through this one, especially knowing some of it is grounded in real events from that era. And, of course, it sent me on a deep dive which is always fun.

Riley Bell is newly divorced and completely broke after her ex’s gambling addiction completely drained their bank accounts. Sleeping in her car and desperate for work and any kind of stability, she takes a live in caretaker job for an elderly widow named Betty. Betty is a sweet old lady, but her house seems to be frozen in time. She has no television and no internet. It doesn’t take long before Betty asks Riley to help her track down what happened to three friends from college back in 1964, insisting they simply lost touch over the years. But as Riley starts digging through old university records, she uncovers something a lot stranger than a lost friendship. Turns out Betty and her three friends had been recruited into an academic parapsychology study testing things like ESP and telekinesis, and at some point the entire department and every trace of that study vanished from the record entirely, along with the four women who took part in it. The deeper Riley gets into the investigation, the clearer it becomes that these women didn’t just drift apart, and that whatever actually happened to them back then is something someone worked very hard to bury. And they want it to stay that way.

I really loved the premise and the characters (both in the present day and back in the sixties) are well crafted and believable. The writing is strong, and I stayed engaged throughout most of the book, especially watching the two timelines slowly converge as Riley uncovers more of the truth. Where this one lost me a little was the ending. After such a strong build up, I felt like the final stretch lost some of its momentum, and the resolution didn’t carry quite the same tension as everything leading up to it. It wasn’t enough to ruin the book for me, but it didn’t land with the punch I hoped it would.

Pacing wise, the dual timeline structure works well. It’s really only in the final chapters that things start to feel like they’re petering out. The reveal wasn’t as shocking as I hoped for. I wanted a bigger bang after all the buildup. It did give me something to research after finishing, though. If you’re interested, I’d recommend checking out some of the historical events that inspired the book. Specifically the MKUltra project during the Cold War and the parapsychology lab at Duke.

Still, I enjoyed this one overall. If you love historical mysteries with a dose of real world inspired weirdness, this is worth picking up, even if the ending doesn’t quite stick the landing.

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