This new novel by Charlie Donlea is a mix of suspense, action and lots of twists that will keep readers riveted! Donlea had me hooked within the first chapter!
Donlea introduces us to Ethan Hall - an ER doctor who previously was a detective with a 100% success rate in his cases. He's a well-developed character and when he's 'encouraged' to help in a 10-year-old cold case of a missing teen, it leads him on a dangerous game of cat and mouse and his own demons come calling.
This story is a thriller lover's dream with a sinister serial killer, atmospheric small-town vibes and many red herrings. The story is layered and told using multiple timelines and POVs with well-timed reveals and short chapters.
If you geek out for thrillers with a sinister side, then you'll want to pick up Guess Again. This book lives up to its name because you'll be guessing and second guessing who is behind the mysterious disappearance.
With misdirection, building tension, great pacing and a memorable character in Ethan Hall, Donlea propelled me out of a reading slump! If you're not yet a fan of Charlie Donlea, you will be once you finish this book.
Disclaimer: Thanks to Kensington for the complimentary digital and paperback advanced copies (and the finished copy!) of this book which were given to me in exchange for my honest review and for including me in the Donlea's Detectives influencer group!
My Rating: 5 stars
Author: Charlie Donlea
Genre: Suspense
Type and Source: ebook and print ARC + finished
copy from publisher
Publisher: Kensington
First Published: July 29, 2025
Read: July 9-11, 2025
Book Description from GoodReads: On the 10th anniversary of a teenage girl’s disappearance, her cold case breaks open in dangerous ways…and threatens to tear apart her small Wisconsin town all over again in the masterfully twisty new psychological suspense novel from the internationally bestselling author of Twenty Years Later.
For fans of Riley Sager, Anna Downes, Alex Finlay, Stacy Willingham, and Karin Slaughter.
Ten years ago, 17-year-old high school volleyball star Callie Jones vanished from her quiet Wisconsin lake community. A highly publicized search followed but her body was never found. The case went cold, but the echoes still linger.
Ethan Hall, a former renegade detective turned ER doctor, left law enforcement to escape the horrors of the kid crime division. But on the tenth anniversary of Callie’s disappearance, his former partner, Pete Kramer, makes a desperate request. Pete is the veteran detective who originally investigated the case. Now he’s dying, and to ease his conscience and get closure for the Jones family, he needs Ethan to return to the haunting work he left behind—and solve what happened to Callie, once and for all.
Word soon spreads and everyone in the small town of Cherryview feels a rush of hope that answers will finally be found. Amid a sweltering heatwave, Ethan’s investigation gains momentum, but reexamining old evidence won’t be enough. He needs a new way into the case, no matter how dangerous or unconventional. And it comes from the least likely of sources—an inmate in a maximum-security prison.
Soon Ethan’s methods draw him deeper into a twisted psychological game. Because there is much more to the nightmare of Callie’s disappearance than he imagined, including a connection with his own dark past . . . and secrets that are still worth killing for.
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