Ruth-Anne Baker is haunted by the death of her childhood friend. She becomes obsessed with serial killers and becomes convinced that the killer had assistance. So she tracks down various people from the small Connecticut town so many years ago.

Ruth is guided by the ghosts of young girls killed by serial killers. If the reader can somehow suspend disbelief of this paranormal element, Leave The Girls Behind is a compelling story. With dark themes, it explores childhood loss and trauma and the manner in which terrible acts can have consequences for others through years and generations.

This intrigued me and kept me reading and invested in the story so that I ended up reading it in one day. However I did find the end something of an anti-climax. It felt like the author set up lots of possible dramatic outcomes that weren’t realised.