Chapter 16

Jamie takes me to Hemlock Island Books, the only store on the island where you can purchase something under five bucks. The store consists of three small floors: nonfiction on the first floor, fiction on the second floor, and “Oddity Books” on the third floor: cult reads, graphic novels, vintage paperback smut (both gay and straight), and local authors. We head to the second floor.

While traveling through the tome-filled shelves, he follows me. “Who are your favorite authors?”

“Koontz, Jo Nesb?, Laura Lippman, and a new author from Australia named Jane Harper.”

He pulls a slim novel off the shelf in the R section and hands it to me. “This is one of my favorite reads. I couldn’t put it down.”

Ominous blue-and-black cover with red lettering. Two hundred ten pages. Iain Reid. I’m Thinking of Ending Things. I read the dustcover’s inside, front flap.

“It sounds dark and mysterious.”

“It’s fucked up. You should give it a try.”