A Necessary End: A Novel

How far would you go to get what you wanted? The author of Donamp;#8217;t Try to Find Me returns with a taut, riveting novel of psychological suspenseamp;#8212;a domestic drama full of secrets and twistsamp;#8212;about a woman determined to have a child, her ambivalent husband, and a pregnant teenager with a secret agenda of her own.

amp;#8220;I know now that there was no other way things could have turned out. Tragedies are inevitable, just like the great love stories, like us.amp;#8221;

Thirty-nine-year-old Adrienne is desperate to be a mother. And this time, nothing is going to get in her way.

Sure, her husband, Gabe, is ambivalent about fatherhood. But she knows that once he holds their baby, heamp;#8217;ll come around. Heamp;#8217;s just feeling a little threatened, thatamp;#8217;s all. Because once upon a time, it was Gabe that Adrienne wanted more than anything; she was willing to do anything. . . . But that was half a lifetime ago. Sheamp;#8217;s a different person now, and so is Gabe. There are lines she wouldnamp;#8217;t cross, not without extreme provocation.

And sure, she was bitten once before by another birth motheramp;#8212;clear to the boneamp;#8212;and for most people, itamp;#8217;s once bitten, twice shy. But Adrienne isnamp;#8217;t exactly the retiring type.

At nineteen, Leah bears a remarkable resemblance to the young woman Adrienne once was. Which is why Adrienne knows the baby Leah is carrying is meant to be hers. But Leahamp;#8217;s got ideas of her own: Her babyamp;#8217;s going to get a life in California; why shouldnamp;#8217;t she? All she wants is to live in Adrienneamp;#8217;s house for a year after the babyamp;#8217;s born, and get a fresh start.

It seems like a small price for Adrienne to pay to get their baby. And with Gabe suddenly on board, what could possibly go wrong?