Domestic suspense is a pretty clean genre as far as thrillers go. The stories usually take place in upscale suburbs, with well-off moms married to executives who turn out to be hiding complicated secrets. The action occurs in luxurious homes or vacation locales. Most of the blood happens off-screen.
In her latest novel Pinky Swear, USA Today bestseller author Danielle Girard strays off this path. While her heroine, Lexi, does live in that upper middle class suburb, her adventures take her to the grimy parts of the inner city. Along the way she proves that a mother will do anything to fight for her child’s safety… even when that child hasn’t been born, and is being carried by another woman.
Lexi and Mara were best friends until a high school tragedy sent them in different directions. Fifteen years later, Lexi is mourning infertility and Mara is on the run from an abusive husband. When Mara offers to be Lexi’s surrogate, Lexi is overjoyed, even though it causes problems with her husband Henry.
But with less than a week until Mara’s due date with the baby girl they have nicknamed Goose, Mara disappears. At first, Lexi thinks they got their wires crossed about Mara’s doctor’s appointment. But when she finds Mara’s phone wiped, she realizes that Mara is gone—and so is Goose. With the clock ticking fast toward Mara’s due date, Lexi has to figure out where Mara went, and why. And the biggest question of all—did she even know her best friend at all?
Her search takes Lexi from Colorado to Philadelphia, where she discovers that Mara had worked as a stripper and frequented dive bars. As she interviews people who knew Mara, Lexi holes up in sleazy hotels, holds her own in knife fights, and chases down bad guys. It makes for a gritty story that gets graphic at times, but Lexi is up for the challenge.
With the countdown to Mara’s due date giving the book a literal ticking time bomb, the main plot is breathlessly paced. Girard alternates this plot with scenes from Lexi and Mara’s senior year of high school, and their friendship with Cate, who drowned in Mara’s hot tub at the end of that year. This intercutting slows down the book and doesn’t really add any insight to the current mystery. Conversely, a subplot about a friend of Mara’s, who adopted a victim of her son’s school shooting, was touching while forwarding the action.
Lexi herself is a bit of an enigma, so focused on finding Mara and her hopes and dreams for Goose that the rest of her seems lost. She’s left out of the action that takes place during senior year, a missed opportunity to make Lexi more three-dimensional. Still, the plot is so compelling that the focus is understandable.
The heart of domestic suspense is the exploration of how far a woman will go for her family. Danielle Girard has taken the action out of the suburban home and into the streets to show a mother-to-be who’s willing to risk her own life to save her daughter. It’s a strong, fast-paced addition to the genre, perfect for readers who prefer authors who’ll go deep and graphic.
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