Somebody I Used to Know by David Bell

Nick lost the love of his life twenty years ago in a dorm fire.  She had broken up with him right before the fire and was dropping out of school, but he always felt he could get her back again.  When she died, it was too late.  So when he sees a young woman who looks just like her, he almost can't breath.  He knows it's not her, but could it be her child?  The young woman runs...

Penguin Group and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you).  It was published July 7th, so you can grab a copy now.

Seeing the girl sends him into a funk, so he goes home and has a couple of beers too many.  When loud knocking wakes him, he goes to the door to find police standing there.  They ask him about the girl.  He tells him he saw her but never made contact with her, she left when he spoke to her.  The cop then asks why his name and address were on a piece of paper in her pocket.  He has no idea.  She was strangled at a cheap motel.

This is a mixed up story about one night twenty years ago.  Everybody was involved except Nick.  Secrets were hidden, revenge was vowed, and while the world went on, nobody's life was the same.

At first, Nick is trying to find out where the girl came from and why she had his name.  Then a female friend of his starts doing research for him because she was a former cop.  All that does is create more questions.  She tries to get him to let it go, but he won't.  He'll go all the way back twenty years in facts and details to get what he needs.  It doesn't make his heart lighter, though.

It's a complex tale with no one looking good at the end.  No one was without sin.  I also wondered about his wisdom at the end of the tale but I might have done what he did, too.  Who knows?  Do you follow your heart or your head?