Emotionally resonant and deeply moving…
A psychiatrist with a haunted past is drawn into a deadly conspiracy in a clinic where silence protects secrets and the truth could cost everything. Dr. Leslie Schoen has rebuilt her life and is finally expecting a child. When a clinic assistant turns up dead and she’s accused of stealing opioids, everything begins to crack. As the DEA closes in, Leslie suspects she’s being set-up. At home, she hides the truth from her pregnant wife, Izzy—until threats escalate and it’s clear someone will kill to keep their secrets buried.
Desch renders Leslie with raw credibility, letting her history of addiction inform every choice, doubt, and instinct without ever reducing her to it. The novel moves with tight momentum, and the prose is lean and sharp. At its core, this is a story about how power corrodes systems from within, and how women, especially queer women, are left to carry the consequences when they refuse to stay quiet.
A layered, unnerving debut that’s equal parts medical thriller, psychological drama, and moral reckoning.
Pub date July 15, 2025
Rowan Prose Publishing, LLC
ISBN 978-1961967540
Price $18.99 (USD) Paperback, $4.99 Kindle edition
