It's one of us /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"A smart, taut, mind-blowing thriller full of heartbreak and betrayal that moves along at breakneck speed. Readers will be obsessed!"

--Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of Just The Nicest Couple



Everybody lies. Even the ones you think you know best of all . . .



Olivia Bender designs exquisite home interiors that satisfy the most demanding clients. But her own deepest desire can't be fulfilled by marble counters or the perfect rug. She desperately wants to be a mother. Fertility treatments and IVF keep failing. And just when she feels she's at her lowest point, the police deliver shocking news to Olivia and her husband, Park.



DNA results show that the prime suspect in a murder investigation is Park's son. Olivia is relieved, knowing this is a mistake. Despite their desire, the Benders don't have any children. Then comes the confession. Many years ago, Park donated sperm to a clinic. He has no idea how many times it was sold--or how many children he has sired.



As the murder investigation goes deeper, more terrible truths come to light. With every revelation, Olivia must face the unthinkable. The man she married has fathered a killer. But can she hold that against him when she keeps such dark secrets of her own?



This twisting, emotionally layered thriller explores the lies we tell to keep a marriage together--or break each other apart . . .

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Secrets, lies, and DNA strands intertwine in this twisty thriller about the meaning of family and the battle between nature and nurture. Interior designer Olivia Bender has almost everything--a loving husband, Park, a rewarding career, and a beautiful home--but no children. After six miscarriages, she's not sure she can go through it again. When the police knock on their door, Olivia and Park learn secrets that ignite a firestorm in their lives. Someone in Nashville is killing women, and DNA indicates the suspect is Park's son. But how? Park soon admits donating to a sperm bank in college. Although horrified about the killings, he is secretly happy he has a child. Teenager Scarlett Flynn runs a chat room for the "Halves," people whose DNA is related to one man, their biological father. She's obsessed with trying to find the father she's wanted her whole life. Now it seems one of the Halves is a murderer. VERDICT Ellison (Her Dark Lies) spotlights the issue of infertility, based on her own experiences, then adds betrayal, obsession, and familial ties that bind to create a tension-filled story with an intriguing theme. Readers will race through the pages to an end they didn't see coming.--K.L. Romo

Publishers Weekly Review

In this enthralling if flawed psychological thriller from bestseller Ellison (Her Dark Lies), interior designer Olivia Bender and her ghostwriter husband, Park, have been trying for years to have a child, but each pregnancy ends in a miscarriage. The continuing disappointment is straining their marriage, with unspoken recriminations and resentments. Into this turmoil come two Nashville homicide detectives. The body of a woman has been found in a nearby lake, and DNA evidence links Park to the crime--not as perpetrator but as the biological father of the murderer. Park, who donated to a sperm bank when he was in college, learns that he has at least 28 offspring. When the police discover that the manner of the victim's death eerily mirrors that of Park's college girlfriend, Park is thrust into the center of a vicious media storm. The assorted points-of-view of the major characters, including Olivia, Park, the two detectives, and the murderer, provide subtle and shifting takes on the information presented by the other characters. Only a forced ending, followed by an anticlimactic epilogue, disappoints. Ellison reliably entertains. Agent: Scott Miller, Trident Media Group. (Feb.)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

J. T. Ellison received an undergraduate degree from Randolph-Macon Woman's College and a master's degree from George Washington University. She was a presidential appointee and worked in The White House and the Department of Commerce before moving into the private sector.

Her short stories have been widely published, including her award winning story Prodigal Me in the anthology Killer Year: Stories to Die For, edited by Lee Child. Her novels include All the Pretty Girls, 14, Judas Kiss, The Cold Room, The Immortals, So Close the Hand of Death, and Where All the Dead Lie. She writes A Brit in the FBI series with Catherine Coulter. She is also the bi-monthly Friday columnist at the blog Murderati.

(Bowker Author Biography)