Closer Than You Know

Closer Than You Know by Brad Parks

Brad Parks delivers another riveting, emotionally powerful stand-alone domestic suspense thriller perfect for fans of The Couple Next Door and What She Knew.

Disaster, Melanie Barrick was once told, is always closer than you know.

It was a lesson she learned the hard way growing up in the constant upheaval of foster care. But now that she's survived into adulthood-with a loving husband, a steady job, and a beautiful baby boy named Alex-she thought that turmoil was behind her.

Until one Tuesday evening when she goes to pick up Alex from childcare only to discover he's been removed by Social Services. And no one will say why. It's a terrifying scenario for any parent, but doubly so for Melanie, who knows the unintended horrors of what everyone coldly calls "the system."

Her nightmare mushrooms when she arrives home to learn her house has been raided by sheriff's deputies, who have found enough cocaine to send Melanie to prison for years. The evidence against her is overwhelming, and if Melanie can't prove her innocence, she'll lose Alex forever.

Meanwhile, assistant commonwealth's attorney Amy Kaye-who has been assigned Melanie's case-has her own troubles. She's been dogged by a cold case no one wants her to pursue: a serial rapist who has avoided detection by wearing a mask and whispering his commands. Over the years, he has victimized dozens of women.

Including Melanie. Yet now her attacker might be the key to her salvation... or her undoing.

Editorial Reviews

01/08/2018 Set in Virginia, this exciting if flawed domestic thriller from Parks (Say Nothing) centers on working mother Melanie Barrick, whose life is turned upside down after the police find a half-kilo of cocaine in her home and social services takes her three-month-old son, Alex, away from her and her husband. Melanie, who has been through a lot in her life--stints in foster care as a child and, most recently, a rape--must somehow prove her innocence or lose Alex and her freedom. As chief deputy commonwealth's attorney Amy Kaye builds a seemingly airtight case against Melanie, she also struggles to identify a serial rapist who has been victimizing women in the area for decades. Predictably, the two story lines connect. Although Parks excels at keeping the pages turning with brisk pacing, relentlessly high tension, and a knotty narrative, the story--particularly the ending--comes off as too contrived. Agent: Alice Martell, Martell Agency. (Mar.) - Publishers Weekly

"Another winning tale of domestic suspense from the Shamus- and Nero Award-winning author Parks, who knows how to get readers to empathize emotionally with his characters while amping up the tension and suspense from the first page." --Library Journal (starred review)

"Parks (Say Nothing, 2017, etc.) dishes out another irresistible descent into hell." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Closer Than You Know grabs you by the gut in Chapter One and keeps upping the tension through every shocking plot twist. Don't expect to come up for air until the final, satisfying pages." --Alafair Burke, New York Times bestselling author of The Wife

"Strong plotting, memorable characters, and situations that will hit readers where they live make Closer Than You Know a compulsive read." --Linwood Barclay

"A diverting, exciting read, with an ending you won't see coming." --Booklist

"A mystery is supposed to be a surprise but this one floored me. Parks has been a consistently solid writer but with this book, he entered a new level with even fuller characters and superb plotting. Parks plumbs parents' anguish when their children are kidnapped." --NJ.com

"From the author of the incredible Say Nothing, this new title is so riveting that it pulls you even deeper into the thrilling imagination and amazing writing of the talented Brad Parks...a tale that at times makes the blood run cold. Brad Parks is a master at creating frightening, emotionally-overcharged stories that take your breath away." --Suspense Magazine

"[Closer Than You Know] beautifully levels the tension higher towards its climax and will keep readers on the edge of their seats trying to find out whodunit and devouring every word." --Bookreporter.com

Praise for Brad Parks and Say Nothing

"Parks does a fantastic job conveying every parent's worst fear while also showcasing the marital conflict and mistrust that erupts in the midst of a crisis. The complications and twists build to an unexpected climax that is both perfect and gut-wrenching...Fans of Harlan Coben and Lisa Gardner will love this thriller. Don't stay silent, tell everyone." --Library Journal, Starred Review

"The novel's final pages are exciting, surprising and deeply moving. How moving? Its ending brought me to tears, and, where books are concerned, such moments are rare... [Say Nothing] carries his work to a new level." --The Washington Post

"Parks dispenses plot twists with a poisoned eyedropper...The nerve-shredding never lets up for a minute as Parks picks you up by the scruff of the neck, shakes you vigorously, and repeats over and over again till a climax so harrowing that you'll be shaking with gratitude that it's finally over." --Kirkus, Starred Review

"[Say Nothing] grips the reader from the get-go and doesn't let up until the final twist in a story that's filled with surprises." --Associated Press

"[Say Nothing] begins by shocking the mind and ends by shattering the heart. The work of an author who continues to raise his sights and refine his immense talent...readers will quickly say 'yes' to this spellbinding, disturbing novel." --The Richmond Times-Dispatch

"Brad Parks latest, Say Nothing, says it all--perfectly. Some books, especially stories about children acting nobly, make me mist up. But real tears, enough to require dabbing eyes? That does not happen. Yet as I finished the former Star-Ledger reporter's latest book, I was crying... [Say Nothing] takes Parks to a new level." --The Star-Ledger

"Shamus Award-winner Parks's excellent domestic thriller credibly portrays a family under severe stress... [readers will] find themselves on pins and needles awaiting the reveals." --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"Fast-paced and terrifying, Say Nothing is a roller coaster of fear, deception, jealousy, and terror." --Bustle

"With the tension ratcheted up to 10, you'll churn through pages like your life depends on it. Filled with more twists and turns than a country back road, you will never see what lies ahead in Say Nothing. After reading Say Nothing, I only had one thought in my head: I have to read everything Parks has written. After this book, I'm going to be a fan for life." --Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

"Parks' legal thriller gets off to a roaring start, plunking us immediately in the middle of things." --Booklist

"Terrific book. Truly terrific. Tension throughout and tears at the end. What could be better than that?" --Sue Grafton

"Outstanding--starts with a bang and gets tenser and tenser. Say Nothing shows Parks is a quality writer at the top of his form." --Lee Child

"Say Nothing moves Brad Parks onto the top shelf of thriller writers. He grabs readers' hearts in the first chapter, and doesn't let go until the last line." --Joseph Finder

"A pedal-to-the floor thriller! Say Nothing grabs you from the first few paragraphs and never lets go. Writing in sharp, no-nonsense prose, Parks perfectly nails the dynamics of a family under the gun and has conjured a plot (did I mention high-speed?) that leaps straight from today's headlines. This novel's a winner!" --Jeffery Deaver

"Say Nothing is tremendously satisfying, packed with engaging characters and surprising plot twists and a furious build of tension until its gut-wrenching pay-off." --Chris Pavone

"A twisting, suspenseful ride that adds a new and original twist to the legal thriller: a judge, cornered. If you haven't discovered Brad Parks yet, Say Nothing is your chance. Smart, propulsive storytelling." --William Landay

"Grips you in a vice from the very beginning, and shreds your emotions. Terrific, powerful storytelling at its very best. A tour de force." --Peter James - From the Publisher

10/15/2017 Melanie Barrick's life is on track after her foster-care upbringing but then derails, with her baby removed by Social Services and the sheriff's deputies claiming to have found cocaine at her house. From a Shamus, Nero, and Lefty Award winner. - Library Journal

★ 2017-12-12 A Virginia mom dutifully treading the path toward middle-class respectability is thrown down the rabbit hole when she's accused of drug dealing and worse.Despite having been taken from an abusive father and grown up in a series of group homes and foster homes, Melanie Barrick seems to have landed on her feet. While she works as a dispatcher at Diamond Trucking, her husband, Ben, studies history at James Madison University, where his mentor is grooming him for a tenure-track job, and her 3-month-old son, Alex, is taking baby steps toward becoming his own person. The wrecking ball is lowered on Melanie's life when she's late picking up Alex at day care and learns that Social Services has already spirited him away after hearing that the Augusta County Sheriff's Office has found nearly half a kilo of cocaine hidden in the boy's nursery together with all the evidence they need to convict Melanie of intent to sell. In short order, Melanie is arrested for assaulting a police officer, hauled off to jail, and threatened with five years in prison. Her Social Services hearing is over before it begins, and the preliminary hearing on the criminal charges goes no better. Things couldn't possibly get any worse--unless she finds out that Ben has been lying to her for months about a very important subject and she's charged with the murder of a man she's only seen once before. Deputy commonwealth attorney Amy Kaye, pulled off the case of a serial rapist to slam the prison door on the Coke Mom so that her incompetent, politically minded boss, Aaron Dansby, can burnish his resume and run for higher office, smells a rat, but her attempts to undermine the case against Melanie are as unavailing as her attempts to link the Coke Mom to the Whispering Rapist.Parks (Say Nothing, 2017, etc.) dishes out another irresistible descent into hell for a heroine who regards her harrowing plight with a sobering verdict: "It was like hitting a new bottom every day." - Kirkus Reviews