Closer Than You Know

3 of 3
Closer Than You Know
416 pages; Dutton
Imagine arriving to pick up your 3-month-old son at daycare to learn he has been taken away by Social Services. Now, imagine that this is because police have uncovered half a kilo of cocaine in your home—drugs you have never seen before—and your next stop is prison, facing criminal charges, with the local papers anointing you Coke Mom. This is the waking nightmare in which Melanie Barrick finds herself. Melanie sets out to prove her innocence, combating a judicial system that feels "like a bad spin cycle on repeat," and fighting to keep her son out of the same foster care system in which she grew up. "I could practically hear the system's drumbeats. A tribe of cannibals was massing. And it was hungry." Assigned to prosecute the case is the deputy commonwealth's attorney, Amy Kaye, but Amy is more interested in catching the serial rapist she believes to be responsible for dozens of attacks in the area. Fortunately for both women, the two cases illuminate each other in unexpected ways. Although a couple of the plot twists feel too easy, Parks has produced a gripping story, masterfully drawn.

— Julia Pierpont