I think my real name is Samantha. I think Im your daughter.
Caroline Shipleys heart nearly stops when she hears those words from the voice on the other end of the phone. Instantly, shes thrust fifteen years into the past, to a posh resort in Baja, Mexicoand the fateful night her world collapsed.
The trip is supposed to be a celebration. Carolines husband, Hunter, convinces her to leave their two young daughters, Michelle and Samantha, alone in their hotel suite while the couple enjoys an anniversary dinner in the restaurant downstairs. But returning afterward, Caroline and Hunter make a horrifying discovery: Two-year-old Samantha has vanished without a trace.
What follows are days, weeks, and years of anguish for Caroline. Shes tormented by media attention that has branded her a cold, incompetent mother, while she struggles to save her marriage. Caroline also has to deal with the demands of her needy elder daughter, Michelle, who is driven to cope in dangerous ways. Through it all, Caroline desperately clings to the hope that Samantha will someday be foundonly to be stung again and again by cruel reality.
Plunged back into the still-raw heartbreak of her daughters disappearance, and the suspicions and inconsistencies surrounding a case long gone cold, Caroline doesnt know whom or what to believe. The only thing she can be sure of is that someone is fiercely determined to hide the truth of what happened to Samantha.