Title:	The Stepchild
	Author:	Joanne Fluke
	Published:	July 25, 2017, Kensington
	No. of Pages:	352
	Cover Price:	$7.19 Paperback, $4.99 Kindle

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Kathi Ellison, a college student, is excited to be living with her boyfriend, David, even though she is keeping it from her father who is a candidate for the US Senate – she doesn’t want to jeopardize his campaign and he thinks she is still living in the dorms. Although Kathi is deliriously happy with David, lately, she has been reliving memories that seem to be coming from someone else, a girl named Sheri Walker who was killed in the same accident that Kathi was involved in when she was four years old – the same accident that killed Kathi’s mother. Kathi thinks that she is possessed by this Sheri Walker, and David is trying to convince her to go to a psychiatrist. Kathi’s stepmother is concerned about Kathi, and, besides being under pressure due to the campaign, is worried that Kathi is beginning to remember things she shouldn’t know. Those memories will surely put the campaign at risk as well as damage Kathi.

While many are familiar with, Joanne Fluke as the author of the popular cozy Hannah Swenson series, Fluke has authored several excellent stand-alone thrillers. The Stepchild is one of her best, and will keep readers on the edge of their seats. The book is well-written, the story flows, and the characters are well-developed and believable. Things are not as they seem, and the suspense starts at the beginning of the book and it doesn’t let up until the end. The novel is a bit dark, and the ending is quite unexpected. This is one that is worth reading.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.