Bell - Bring Her Home

David Bell writes taut, intelligent, and intense suspense that is deeply human.

Mark Greaney, New York Times bestselling author of Gunmetal Gray

Riveting... the story races through stunning twists all the way to its revelation, without letting its heart fall away in the action. Intense, emotional, and deeply satisfying. This one will keep you up late into the night. Dont miss it!

Jamie Mason, author of Mondays Lie

Spellbinding and pulse raising, Bring Her Home hooked me from the first sentence and surprised me until the final pages. Sharply written and richly observed, this book is about the secrets we keep, the mysteries that keep us, and the lengths a father will go to for the daughter he loves. David Bell is a masterful storyteller who has perfected the art of suspense.

Sarah Domet, author of The Guineveres

An exciting and well-layered mystery that keeps the reader guessing until the very end. David Bell is a master storyteller with a sure hand at crafting characters you feel for and stories you relish.

Allen Eskens, USA Today bestselling author of The Life We Bury

A gripping, immersive tour de force full of twists and turns, Bring Her Home kept me flipping the pages late into the night. Dont expect to sleep until youve finished reading this book. I could not put it down!

A. J. Banner, bestselling author of The Twilight Wife

A tense and twisty suspense novel about the dark secrets that lie buried within a community and a father who can save his daughter only by uncovering them. Will leave parents wondering just how well they truly know their children.

Hester Young, author of The Shimmering Road

The best crime novels combine a breakneck thriller plot with a piercing examination of family relationships. The Forgotten Girl hits this standard and then some.

Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author of The Skin Collector

[A] twisty, realistic thriller.

Houston Chronicle

Bell is a brilliant craftsman as well as storyteller.

The Providence Journal

[Bell is] a bang-up storyteller.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Realistic glimpses of small-town America.... You might want to read it the next time youre drawn back to the place you came from. Itll remind you of why you got the hell out of there in the first place.

The Washington Post

David Bell is a natural storyteller and a superb writer. The Forgotten Girl is a mystery lovers mystery: a quick-paced and intriguing tale of what happens when the past catches up with the present.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Nelson DeMille

David Bell writes spellbinding and gripping thrillers that get under your skin and refuse to let go.

Linwood Barclay, New York Times bestselling author of The Twenty-Three

One of the brightest and best crime fiction writers of our time.

Suspense Magazine

An intense, unrelenting powerhouse of a book, and the work of a master.

John Lescroart, New York Times bestselling author of Fatal

A well-written, well-timed, steady-paced mystery.

Shelf Addiction

[A] tantalizing thriller.... Bell keeps readers on edge throughout.

Publishers Weekly

The totally unexpected ending alone [makes it] worth reading this thriller... an exciting read.

RT Book Reviews

[A] strong and moody novel... personal relationships are critical in this satisfying read, which is in the same class as Russell Bankss The Sweet Hereafter.

Kirkus Reviews

Filled with twists and turns that will have you forgetting everything you are supposed to do until you reach the very last page.

Fresh Fiction

ALSO BY DAVID BELL

Cemetery Girl

The Hiding Place

Never Come Back

The Forgotten Girl

Somebody I Used to Know

Since She Went Away

BERKLEY

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

Copyright 2017 by David J. Bell

Readers Guide copyright 2017 by Penguin Random House LLC

Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader.

BERKLEY is a registered trademark and the B colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Bell, David, 1969 November 17 author.

Title: Bring her home/David Bell.

Description: First edition. | New York: Berkley, 2017.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016053301 (print) | LCCN 2017000021 (ebook) | ISBN 9780399584442 (softcover) | ISBN 9780399584459 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Fathers and daughtersFiction. | Teenage girlsFiction. | BISAC: FICTION/Suspense. | GSAFD: Suspense fiction. | Mystery fiction.

Classification: LCC PS3602.E64544 B75 2017 (print) | LCC PS3602.E64544 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016053301

First Edition: July 2017

Cover photos: forest by Danielle D. Hughson/Moment/Getty Images; hair by Sven Krobot/EyeEm/Getty Images; leaves by OJO Images/Robert Daly/Iconica/Getty Images

Cover design by Colleen Reinhart

Title page photos: leaves by vnlit/Shutterstock Images

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Version_1

In memory of Ed Gorman and Jim Reiss

Part
One

CHAPTER ONE

B ill Price stepped into the whirling chaos of the emergency room.

To the left, he saw a woman holding a red-faced, crying baby. The childs eyes were pools of tears, its mouth contorted into a wailing O. The mother made shushing noises, but the baby didnt seem to hear them. Ahead of Bill, a teenage girl with a nose ring and a neck tattoo tried to calm a man holding a bloody rag against his shaven head. The man appeared agitated, waving his free hand around as though orating.

Bill looked to his right. He saw a small crowd gathered but no one he recognized.

He felt overwhelmed. Alone.

A nurse sat behind the admitting desk. She held a metal clipboard and wore half-moon glasses perched on the end of her nose. The glasses aged her, made her look ten years older than she probably was.

Bill approached her, a knot of tension growing in his chest.

Excuse me, Bill said.

Just a minute. The woman turned and stood up, walking away from Bill and going through a door behind her.

Hello? Bill said, his voice low.

He tapped his finger on the Formica desk.

Shes here. Somewhere. Shes here.