Having read "The Husband's Secret", "What Alice Forgot" and "Big Little Lies" by this author, I was expecting a bit more than I received. Her stories always have a character or two that seem somewhat outside the norm, but for me most all of the characters were a bit disjointed in this story. A 60+ year mystery on an island with few inhabitants is at the center of this tale. An abandoned baby, parents who disappeared while a warm cake is still cooling from the oven, and two teenage girls who take the baby in and raise her as their own finishes out the circle of mystery. The Dougherty family has been deeply immersed in the money-making, tour-guiding business of exploiting the mystery for years, even going so far as to coordinate an anniversary party each year commemorating the day the baby was found. But is the story of the mystery really as portrayed? Are the players in the story hiding the truth? Will the mystery of Jack and Alice Munro ever be solved? When you look at the surface questions, the journey seems like an interesting one. However, for this reader I found the characters to be wanting. There was not a family member one whose life was fulfilled, who was not struggling with internal demons, biological clocks, dissatisfaction with chosen paths and decisions. While the mystery finally revealed itself (I won't spoil it for anyone wanting to read it), I did not feel that the old saying "THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE" really rang true. By the end of the story, I still found most characters pitiful, unfulfilled, settling for second best or beyond help. I gave the story three stars because it did hold my interest as I continued to hope there would be more to it, but my expectations fell a bit short when encountering what I perceived as a less than perfect ending.

Enjoyable read, fun characters. I love the authors writing style.