Until She Comes Home by Lori Roy

Two years ago, Lori Roy floored critics and readers alike with her debut novel BENT ROAD, a haunting and spellbinding thriller which won the 2011 Edgar Award for Best First Novel and was chosen by the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW as “Favorite Suspense Novel” of the year. In June, Roy returns with another haunting literary thriller which delves into the darker side of Detroit in the 1950s, an area and time rife with conflict. In UNTIL SHE COMES HOME (Dutton: June 13, 2013) Roy transforms a small Detroit community into a tense and sometimes frightening environment, a place that becomes as much of a character as those living in the neighborhood. Her setting is believable and meticulous and her writing delicate and provocative.

UNTIL SHE COMES HOME is the story of Alder Avenue, a respectable place where neighbors care for one another amid a once peaceful community.  But all of that is set to change when two seemingly unrelated events, the disappearance of childlike Elizabeth Symanski and the murder of a local African American woman, collide to create a domino effect of strained relationships and unearthed scandals. As the residents of Alder Avenue frantically try to preserve their quiet lives, they continue searching day and night for Elizabeth. Fearing their world will be forever changed without her, no one can look beyond Elizabeth’s search; nothing will be good again, nothing will be as it should, until she is found.

*****

LIBRARY JOURNAL proclaims that UNTIL SHE COMES HOME is a story that will “leave readers guessing until the end.” It’s a novel that powerfully takes hold of readers with its subtlety and then lingers after the final pages have been turned. Roy expertly blends the prose of literary fiction into the page-turning pacing of a thriller with a cast of evocative characters and an ominous twist on the everyday.

As award winning author, Hank Phillip Ryan writes, UNTIL SHE COMES HOME is “Extraordinary. Compelling. And beautifully, quietly disturbing” with “gorgeously drawn characters” that “will haunt you long after the last page.” Readers won’t want to miss this fantastic, groundbreaking summer read.

*****

Lori Roy was born and raised in the Midwest where she graduated from Kansas State University with a BS degree in finance. She worked for several years as a tax accountant and at Hallmark Cards, Inc., in Kansas City before turning her focus to writing. She is the recipient of the Ed Hirschberg Award for Excellence in Florida Writing. Her previous novel BENT ROAD won an Edgar Award for “Best First Novel.” She lives in west-central Florida.

To learn more about Lori, please visit her website.