From the critically acclaimed author of No Exit and The Last Word comes a story of two friends who embark on an ill-fated caving expedition-and the dark truth of what happens deep underground.
After years of excuses, Tess has finally agreed to go caving with her best friend Alma. Their lives have diverged sharply since high school-Alma is a self-made travel influencer, while Tess is a shy (and claustrophobic) legal assistant struggling to pay for law school. Maybe she's a little jealous of Alma's globe-trotting life. Who wouldn't be?
As Tess and Alma descend into the depths, they realize they're not alone. A stranger who claims to be a fellow caver harasses them. Confident, take-no-shit Alma insults the guy-and he retaliates. Soon, Tess is trapped inside a narrow crawl space hundreds of feet underground, fighting to stay alive.
Twenty-four hours later, as a hospitalized Tess recounts her harrowing story of survival, the detective interviewing her shares new and shocking secrets about Alma's true past. Together, they begin to suspect the brutal attack wasn't so random after all.
Who was Alma, really? Why did this man target them? And did Tess really leave the danger behind when she escaped the cave?
"Taylor Adams's fourth stand-alone thriller moves at about 150 miles per hour until its closing scene, which is still and tender . . . A novel that's part action flick and part affecting rumination on moral responsibility within families."
- Washington Post
"[A] nail-biting thriller. . . . The action drives to a climactic and emotionally charged ending." - Publishers Weekly
"[A]n enthralling tale that features a wonderfully relatable and gutsy heroine. Give it to readers looking for a female-led drama in the mode of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and its sibling works." - Booklist
"Adams' gripping psychological thriller is haunting, disturbing, stomach-churning, and violent. . . . As layer after layer of this stunningly crafted story are peeled back, readers will be shocked by the devastating twists. No one is what they seem; what appears to be true is often false. This is a strange and powerful tale of justice, mercy, revenge, and regret, with a dramatic and unexpected ending." - Booklist
"If many thrillers suffer from an inability to live up to their initial promises, The Last Word is the opposite: It gets more clever and interesting as it goes along. It's not just a suspenseful story about a woman in extremis fighting for her life, but a fine exercise in authorial misdirection and an incisive metacommentary on crime fiction and true-crime writing. Also, it's unexpectedly moving." - New York Times
"There's a cinematic propulsion to No Exit that commands the reader's attention, and Mr. Adams times his shocks with a sure hand." - Wall Street Journal
"There's a cinematic propulsion to No Exit that commands the reader's attention, and Mr. Adams times his shocks with a sure hand." - Wall Street Journal
"Hairpin Bridge reads like a Stephen King novel and is especially reminiscent of Misery in how the characters shape-shift as the narrative progresses, leaving the reader wondering who is more dangerous-and more importantly, which one will prevail." - BookPage
"Hairpin Bridge reads like a Stephen King novel and is especially reminiscent of Misery in how the characters shape-shift as the narrative progresses, leaving the reader wondering who is more dangerous-and more importantly, which one will prevail." - BookPage
"Adams' plotting is relentless, making The Last Word one of the scariest mysteries of the year." - Florida Sun-Sentinel
"No Exit is everything I want in a thriller: ingeniously crafted, unapologetically relentless, and shamelessly suspenseful. The twists go off like a series of expertly planted detonations and the tension never lets up. I was blown away. No Exit is a damn good time."
- Joe Hill, #1
