"Caught" by Harlan Coben

Prologue - Dan, separated from Genna for years (she has a 6 y.o. Carrie with her new husband. Dan babysits) was a foster child. He went to Princeton. He teaches sport in a foster home. Chinna calls him. He goes to her house. A TV crew is there, with reporter Wendy. She'd pretended to be a young girl and had asked him to come.

Marcia and Ted's oldest daughter Hayley has disappeared.

3 months later - At a pre-trial, Wendy is questioned. She'd been married to John (PhD in psychology). He had died because of Ariana Nasbro, an alcoholic who's soon to be released and is sending her letters. Their son is Charlie. She's sacked. When Dan is released, innocent, he tries to get in touch with her, saying he was set up. She visits Dan, who's in hiding. While she's with him he's shot. She recognises the murderer - Ed Greeson. She runs away, contacts the police. There's no body or weapon by the time she returns.

Pops, Wendy's right-wing motorbiking father-in-law, stays with them.

Hayley's phone is found in Dan's room.

Rumours are spread about Wendy online. She discovers that Dan regularly visited the Dean's house at Princeton. 4 out of the group of 5 he belonged to (Phil Turnbull, etc) at Princeton have been disgraced by scandal within a year. Only Kelvin, a wierdo maths genius, hasn't suffered. He's gone mad, mentioning scarface and the hunt. Wendy finds Crista living in the Dean's house. While students were on a "scavenger hunt" looking for the Dean's underpants in the house there'd been an accident and she was badly scarred. Phil took the blame because he was rich. His family paid for Crista's silence. Dan had taken pity on her and used to visit. She'd forgiven them.

When Phil recently wanted support from his friends he didn't get it. So he framed them. But he didn't framed Dan. Maybe he was really guiltly, which would stop Wendy feeling guilty about framing him. Phil kills himself.

Wendy works out that Genna planted Hayley's mobile at Dan's. Hayley had died of alcohol poisoning at a party in Genna's house. Putting the blame for her death on an already dead person seemed a tidy solution.

Pops forgives Nasbro. Ed had faked Dan's death. He's volunteering in Angola. Ed puts Wendy through to him, begging forgiveness. Which he gives.

Other reviews

• Brett Milam (Wendy’s arc from a Nancy Grace-like character to someone who does become invested in figuring out the truth ... Joblessness, directionless, hopelessness, manhood, all of these together are central themes creating the overarching theme: Fathers and husbands without direction.)