Stay Close by Harlan Coben

You can't go home again.  Megan Pierce is starting to realise that cliches stick around because they are based on truth.  Seventeen years ago she was living as Cassie, making a living as an exotic dancer and dating dangerous men.  When one of those men got increasingly violent and started hurting her, she decided she might need to make a new life.  Then came the night when Cassie found his blood-soaked body in the woods and decided that the police would decide she was the killer.  That's the night she disappeared.

Now she is Megan Pierce, living the typical suburban stay at home mom life.  She found and married a good man who loves her and together they had two wonderful children.  Megan should be happy, but something keeps pulling her back to her former life.

Detective Broome is a policeman nearing retirement who remembers the violent boyfriend who tormented Cassie.  The guy was married, and his wife still keeps their home as it was when her husband was killed, unaware of his violent side.  This is the case Broome just can't let go.

Ray is another person caught up in the past.  Seventeen years ago he was a rising star as a documentary photographer and madly in love with Cassie.  Now he is a washout who makes a marginal living and spends his days drinking.  He can't move beyond that night in the woods either; all the blood and the disappearance of his love.

When Megan gives in to her curiosity and revisits the club where she used to dance, those years between fade away.  The old murder case seems to reactivate and more bodies are found.  Someone is after Megan again, and she can't believe she has jeopardized her life for a glimpse of her past.

Harlan Coben fans will welcome a new novel by him.  Coben's forte is inticate plotting along with crisp writing and twists that make his books page-turners, and Stay Close is another success.  This book is recommended for mystery and suspense fans.