A father, reeling from the murder of his only child, has the opportunity to confront his daughter’s killer. But first, he’s given a list of six names to help him understand how the killer turned from an innocent young boy to an evil man.

As the book begins, readers learn that Dwayne Taylor’s daughter Ruby has been murdered and Dwayne is about to meet an inmate in prison.

The story then flashes back to Ruby’s childhood, narrated through multiple characters’ viewpoints. Dwayne is a single father raising eight-year-old Ruby after his wife died in childbirth. The Taylors live in an upper middle-class neighborhood that includes Grant Anderson, who fosters children along with his wife. When Grant asks Dwayne to mentor a young boy, knowing one afternoon a week “could make all the difference,” Dwayne says he doesn’t have time.

The story then covers the next 12 years of the Taylors’ lives, until Ruby’s death halfway through the book. At this point, Dwayne desperately wants the perpetrator killed. “I wish I could do it,” he says. “I wish I could be in the same room with that filth.” But to get a prison visit, Grant, who has connections to make that happen, makes Dwayne agree to first interview six people instrumental in the criminal’s life.

This is an intriguing premise, and the story delivers intricate plotting and shocking twists. But it’s the author’s raw insights about the widening social divide, lack of support for at-risk children, and criminal justice system that add weight and significance to what otherwise might simply be another crime novel. The author occasionally stretches credibility with children and pre-teens using words and phrases well beyond their years, and the story gets off to a rough start with some unnecessary repetition, but the author’s earnest and urgent message compensates for the story’s lapses.

Forceful momentum and gut-wrenching stakes make this a provocative page-turner with an ending readers won’t see coming.

Also available in paperback and ebook.