CincyKris

This was the best chapter of any of your books that I have read. Wonderful and emotional and sensitive.

Teenagers!!!!!🤯

Great news regarding Louis and Charlie! Aunt Daphne was even worse than the last time, I look forward to @Summerabbacat's description of her!

I just had to look at the title page to see if a "fantasy" tag got added yet! The coincidences are too coincidental to be coincidences. I think that Kevin decided to haunt Adrian rather than Liam, he was probably frustrated at Liam's reluctance to move forward. Great emotion in this chapter.

When Coop was looking for the boys I was on pins and needles also! Just shows how much tension and anxiety our author has crafted, now that we're getting closer to closing this case.

It's sad to see Adam fall into his disorder. We skipped to his second year, did he go home for Christmas and the summer? Is his family pushing him to keep communicating?

Amazing use of the ghost in the room! He added tension when he was in the background, and exploded the case. But, I don't think Alexis was referring to Griff's ability to see and speak to ghosts, she wanted him to touch her. Just one touch back then could have stopped her. Her obsession with him, her knowing how close he could be to discovering her secret, all the while she was cultivating a codependent relationship with Griff's was so cold and manipulative. Her outrage at Griff "cheating" to get the truth is laughable. As if she played by anyone's rules other than her own. One question, when she slapped him, what did Griff see?

Adam is putting on a good front for his loved ones. He seems ok, even remembers to use the past tense when speaking of Jamie. But internally he's becoming dependent on Jamie's presence. I guess that I will just give up on the impressions left by the following quote from the prologue. A life meticulously constructed, brick by invisible brick, over fifteen years of yearning, regret, and the fertile, aching ground of a single, unasked question: "What if?" In Adam’s mind, high school wasn’t just a starting point; it was the trembling foundation. He remembered the electric jolt when his hand touched his. He remembered the paralyzing weight in his chest, the words "I like you" dying on his tongue during that endless, humid summer before university was to start choked by fear – fear of rejection, fear of the unknown, fear of what it meant to feel that way. That silence became the architect of his phantom world. To me, and some other readers, this clearly implied that Adam failed to tell Jamie he liked him and lived with regret. It was intriguing.

Hmmm, is this the story of Jamal overcoming hurt and betrayal? Ryan learning a life lesson at Jamal's expense? Or Jamal and Ryan working through pain and regret to find something new within each other? Great start!

I'm looking for a motive for eliminating project Chimera. Three adults and one teenager were targeted by the same AI that the adults (and teenager?) helped create. I believe Walter was the handler for project Chimera. I also believe that he is at the center of this, but I'm drifting away from thinking he is behind the termination order. The black ops team were just tools, and like all tools that become detrimental to a project, they will be "retired". So the real question is whether a person or an AI is behind Cerberus trying to eat it's parents?

I’d love to give him a pass as a “city boy”, but Adrian told Liam he was a hobbiest nature photographer “since high school”, so 20 years. And he never went on a real hike in Canada?

My initial opinion of Adrian was of an outgoing, competent, mature man in his mid-thirties. Definitely not a kid, no matter what Liam tells himself. But, showing up for a hike with not even a bottle of water?! I might have over estimated his maturity.

Lovely chapter! I hope this puts all the Adam doubters minds at ease! I don't think our dear author would have our hero introduce Adam to Martin, Tom, and Beth, along with Jimmy and Shane, only to have Adam destroy them. Speaking of red herrings, Rick's dad?????

Now I think Madison is a vapid, materialistic, self-centered, poor excuse for a sister! When she finds out she was cheated out of her inheritance, there will be a 180° change in attitude. It won't change her as a person, but she will suddenly be on her "loving" brothers' sides!

Big strides forward for Dean. But I feel like I've missed a whole chapter (I haven't) in which Dean and Leah took their relationship to the "committed and in love" level. What was a somewhat casual, sex-based relationship prior to Dean seeing Kris and ghosting Leah, is now all of the sudden the breakup of a long loving couple???

Huge steps forward! Wonderful development for Rick and Adam. It seems incomprehensible that the principle and board wouldn't report such an incident to the police! Does Australia have mandatory report laws? In the US, Cunningham and all the board members would be subject to prosecution. Unfortunately in all countries this type of predatory behavior occurs. The teacher just moves on to another school and more victims because the people in charge want to avoid bad press.

I was lost on the Maria thing too, and it did take me out of the strong emotions for a bit. Maybe just adding "Kevin's caretaker" after her first mention would clear things up and prevent the lack of connection to the emotional storyline. Otherwise, this was very effective in introducing the level of grief Liam felt. It explains his reticence to moving forward.

I agree with @Philippe regarding Leah. She seems like a nice woman, but her relationship was based on sex, from the first date and all the others. Dean, who did not really engage in any more small talk with her than with anyone else, never talked about the future. Now she is all the sudden in love? Kris has been so consumed with scraping to get by that he is wildly overwhelmed by good news. He will be financially secure, he and his mom will have a better life in a better location, and he has 2 different guys interested in him. Hopefully he will be able to calm down and realize that he has big, but good decisions ahead of him.

Sounds like someone else you chronicled!

Perhaps it is the funds that are fueling Madison's rage. The boys certainly haven't seen a dime! I can only assume that sis is living off of the insurance money via Uncle Phil. She may be a homophobic bitch, but if Phil is in jail, her income will not only disappear, she will be on the hook for the boys' fair share.

I found Tom's questioning about uncle Vernon veered close to interrogation. Could his interest, specifically of what Vernon might have brought in from overseas, be due to some pressure from our baddies? Could that be why he looks rundown? Just what has Tom gotten himself into?

I had the same thoughts regarding Madison. Some new investigations are needed! Great chapter for the boys, they were able to just enjoy being brothers for the weekend.

We learned so much about our characters in this chapter! I'm intrigued by your comment that B & B will be instrumental in the next one, because they seem to be hot-headed alpha male tropes. But you, thankfully, don't do tropes, so I'm excited to see how these non-geniuses will factor into a battle of wits and wills with two actual geniuses. I like Garcia, I'm wary of Price because Griffin is wary of him. I can't help but wonder if Alexis has a disciple in the Bureau? I was surprised at the lack of ghosts in our recent scenes. Will they appear in the interrogation?

We're starting to dive into the mystery! I doubt the dickhead in the car had enough time to murder Martin. But I bet the yearbook and journal will be helpful.

I did not see this when it was posted! I could feel the tension in the car during the power struggle/self denial battle. Both want to give in as much as they want to push away! Alexis knows Griffin's darkest secret, and I have no doubt she will hold that card in reserve as long as she can. Tension, tension, tension!!!!