Closer Than You Know
By Brad Parks
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