Josie, Perri, and Kat have been inseparable best friends since third grade -- the athlete, the brilliant, acerbic drama queen, and the popular beauty with a heart that is open to all around her. They live in an affluent suburb of Baltimore and enjoy privileges many teenagers are denied. But on the final day of school one of them brings a gun with her. And when the police break down the door of the high school girls' bathroom, locked from the inside, they find two of the friends wounded, one of them critically -- and the third girl is dead.

From one of the most acclaimed authors of crime fiction writing today comes a novel breathtaking in its emotional depth -- a riveting, powerful, provocative, and consistently surprising tale of secrets, friendship, and betrayal that brilliantly illuminates a dark and chilling event with startling clarity and unique empathy.