The Three Beths

September 17, 2018
A year after Beth Dunning disappeared from Lakehaven, Tex., in this gripping if flawed standalone from Thriller Award–winner Abbott (Blame), the primary suspect in the case remains Beth’s husband, who’s regularly harassed by the Lakehaven police chief and shunned by friends and neighbors. When Beth’s grown daughter, Mariah, catches a glimpse of Beth at a local mall, Mariah sets out to find her mother and absolve her father of blame. Aided by a former high school classmate and true-crime blogger, Mariah follows a tenuous link to a second woman with a similar first name: Bethany Curtis, the estranged wife of a tech millionaire, who went missing shortly before Beth did. In her painstaking pursuit of Bethany, Mariah stumbles into a family’s twisted web of blackmail, envy, and lies. The answer to the women’s disappearances seems to lie with a third “Beth,” the elusive Lizbeth, who vanished along with Bethany. Only the heavy-handed conclusion mars this high-voltage psychological thriller. Readers will be riveted until then. Five-city author tour. Agent: Peter Ginsberg, Curtis Brown, Ltd.

October 15, 2018

Three-time Edgar Award nominee Abbott (The Last Minute) returns, with this latest novel centered on three women--Bethany, Beth, and Lizbeth--all literally "gone girls," either missing or murdered. As Mariah Dunning, Beth's daughter, works to clear her father, the prime suspect in her mother's suspected murder, she's convinced she just saw Beth in a mall, though the woman in question flees and can't be found. When a crime blogger ties Beth to the missing Bethany, Mariah wonders why the latter woman would disappear when husband Jake is about to make a fortune selling software. Bethany's mother accuses Jake of murder, but why did her own husband commit suicide? As connections among the three Beths are revealed, the count of potential villains mounts, and other crimes from embezzlement to a hit-and-run killing complicate matters in a dizzying crescendo of sinister events. VERDICT Abbott is a master of misdirection, though multiple red herrings and ever-tightening entanglements lead to a conclusion that some might find confusing. Still, the suspenseful plot with its numerous twists will appeal to readers of Harlan Coben or Gillian Flynn. [See Prepub Alert, 1/22/18.]--Ron Terpening, formerly of Univ. of Arizona, Tucson

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2018
You know a writer has talent when he or she can take a rather debatable premise?a woman becomes convinced her mother's disappearance has something to do with another woman's disappearance because both are named Beth?and turn it into a seriously spellbinding thriller. At some point in the story a third Beth is introduced, but to say more than that about the plot would be a disservice to the author. This is a tricky novel. Like a stage magician, Abbott often seems to be doing one thing when he's actually doing something else, and when we realize what he's been up to, we can't help but shake our heads in admiration. Abbott has a solid track record. His Sam Capra series has garnered well-deserved acclaim, and his stand-alones, including last year's Blame, have been consistently strong. The Three Beths continues his run as a thriller writer who can be counted on to deliver page-turning suspense.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)