The Forgotten Girls by Sara Blaedel

Louise is looking for the identity of a dead woman.  She was found in the woods, at the bottom of a cliff, dead from internal injuries from the fall.  She must have been running at night because the cliff was apparent in the daylight.  But who was she running from and why?  And just who is she?

Grand Central Publishing and Edelweiss allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published February 3rd, so watch for it then.

This story is set in New Zealand, which made it an interesting read for me.  I like reading mysteries based in other countries.  Each police force has it's own techniques.  Each village is different.  And there are always secrets...

No one has turned in a missing person's report on the dead woman.  No one is searching for her now.  She couldn't have popped up out of thin air.  In desperation, Louise publishes the info in the newspapers to see if someone recognizes her.  Someone does.  And it will send Louise down a path of despair and tragedy as she tries to find out just what was going on.  

The woman was in an asylum for the retarded.  They took care of them and discouraged parents from coming to see them.  They referred to them as being "forgotten".  I think most of them would rather be dead than stay there.

What's odd is that when they identify the woman, she was reported as dead thirty years ago.  So was her twin.  She obviously wasn't dead until recently.  Where is her twin now?  And who was hiding them?

The answers to these questions are ugly.  The evil stems from accident while a boy was six.  It has expanded and became uglier over time.  What people were willing to do to cover this problem was horrendous.  Ms. Blaedel understands what people feel and what they will do to hide their grief, sorrow, and shame.  This one will take a while to forget...