Harlan Coben's novels are a joy to read, in part, because they are so realistic that the reader can imagine the incidents happening to someone they know, or, to themselves.

Seventeen-year-old Haley Ward disappears and soon her parents realize they are experiencing a parent's worst nightmare.

Social worker, Dan Mercer, is a giving person, coaches girl's basketball and helps seriously troubled teens. Dan is in the midst of answering a young girl's plea to come to her home for assistance. He arrives and hears a voice telling him to come in. When he enters, he walks into a sting operation run by reporter, Wendy Tynes, and coordinated with the police.

Wendy's goal is to catch sexual preditors, publicly humiliate them and have them arrested.

When she confronts Dan and informs him that she knows that he came to that home in order to have sex with an underage girl, Dan tells her that she's wrong and that he's being set-up. Wendy scoffs and tells him that that's what they all say.

There is a pre-trial hearing but no matter what they outcome, Dan is labelled as a sexual predator and faces public wrath.

This is a suspenseful, can't put down novel where the facts are revealed gradually and Wendy attempts to get to the real answer. Was Dan guilty or did she accuse an innocent man? What she learns is that there is more to the story and her life and reputation face a stern test.

The characters are sympathetic and described in a believable manner and the novel is breathtaking.