The One I Left Behind: Book summary and reviews of The One I Left Behind by Jennifer McMahon

The One I Left Behind Summary

The summer of 1985 changes Reggie's life. An awkward thirteen-year-old, she finds herself mixed up with the school outcasts. That same summer, a serial killer called Neptune begins kidnapping women. He leaves their severed hands on the police department steps and, five days later, displays their bodies around town. Just when Reggie needs her mother, Vera, the most, Vera's hand is found on the steps. But after five days, there's no body and Neptune disappears.

Now, twenty-five years later, Reggie is a successful architect who has left her hometown and the horrific memories of that summer behind. But when she gets a call revealing that her mother has been found alive, Reggie must confront the ghosts of her past and find Neptune before he kills again.

The One I Left Behind Reviews

"Starred Review. You won't soon forget Reggie, fierce yet fragile, but likely to stick with you even longer is the central conundrum of the extent to which our pasts enslave us and how much we can set ourselves free. " - Publishers Weekly

"Starred Review. McMahon scores a solid touchdown in this creepy but engrossing thriller...Readers will find themselves unable to turn the pages fast enough in this perfectly penned thriller." - Kirkus

"Haunting and harrowing, The One I Left Behind offers enthralling suspense but also so much more: a richly poignant tale of the families we're born into and the ones we build ourselves." - Megan Abbott, author of Dare Me

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Jennifer McMahon is the author of Dismantled, the New York Times bestseller Island of Lost Girls, and the breakout debut novel Promise Not to Tell. She grew up in suburban Connecticut, and graduated from Goddard College in 1991. Over the years, she has been a house painter, farm worker, paste-up artist, pizza delivery person, homeless shelter staff member, and has worked with mentally ill adults and children in a few different capacities. Currently, she lives in Vermont with her partner, Drea, and their daughter, Zella.