So Much Pretty

(Paperback)

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Description

Murder, revenge and violence strike a small American town in this startling debut novel. 'A man can only take so much pretty walking back and forth in front of him.' When nineteen-year-old Wendy White disappears, the small town of Haeden, New York, is shaken to its core. The police are unable to trace the missing waitress; everyone assumes that she has run away. But, six months later, Wendy's tortured body is found in the nearby woods. She has only been dead for a matter of days. With no one willing to talk, the investigation slows to a halt. But local reporter Stacy Flynn and high school student Alice Piper have their own reasons for finding out what really happened. The truth behind Wendy's disappearance has a devastating effect on the town- what was once a rural idyll is now the backdrop to murder, violence and revenge.

Reviews

A mixture of The Lovely Bones and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo * Booklist *
A passionately angry ... and shocking book. Cara Hoffman not only discovers the heart of darkness in small town Haeden, but brilliantly dissects it. -- Rosamund Lupton, bestselling author of Sister
Beautiful ... what begins as the suspenseful story of a rural American murder grows into a dark, disquieting and urgently fascinating examination of the violence and concealment practised by a whole society ... this is an impassioned, intelligent and important work of art. -- Chris Cleave
Intelligent and gripping stuff * Financial Times *
Dark, atmospheric tale of murder in a small-town world. * Stylist *

Author Bio

Before becoming a novelist, Cara Hoffman worked as an investigative reporter covering New York State's rural and Rust Belt communities, where she reported on crime. This is her first novel.