A Young Adult novel by Kara Thomas.
Tessa returns to Fayette, Pennsylvania, to say goodbye to her father, who is dying in prison of cancer. She stays with her old best friend Callie, from whom she grew apart after they witnessed the murder of Callie's cousin Lori. Now the man they accused of being a Serial Killer is on the brink of being put to death, Tessa and Callie have to figure out if they were right about the Ohio River Monster.
- Baby Be Mine: Two versions in the same family. Tessa's older sister is actually "Baby Morgan" and was kidnapped from her mother. Tessa's "mother" also kidnapped a woman until her due date and performed a fetal abduction and killed her to have Tessa. Lori found out and Tessa's mother killed her and made it look like the Ohio River Monster.
- Chekhov's Hobby: Ryan's mom is an obsessive hoarder with a particular fondness for newspapers, which turns out to be how they find a Chekhov's Gun.
- Convenient Photograph: Callie tries to avert this and fails. She disguises herself in the picture she takes to attempt to snare the Ohio River Monster, but she forgets about her phone case, which allows him to recognize and kidnap her.
- Dying Town: Fayette.
- Parental Abandonment: Tessa's mom abandoned her due to her addiction. And because she wasn't really her mother, and had actually kidnapped her and was being threatened by Tessa's "sister".
- Patched Together from the Headlines: The story is intentionally reminiscent of the West Memphis Three, with the controversial use of aggressive interrogation in a small town, but where the story ends up is reminiscent of a lot of other true crime cases where a child is kidnapped and raised by the kidnappers.
- Raised by Grandparents: After Tessa's mom abandoned her, her grandmother raised her in a retirement village in Florida.
- Serial Killer Baiting: Tessa, Callie and Ryan create a fake account to lure the real Ohio River Monster out. They use a "sexy" selfie portraying Callie with her head hidden outside the frame. Unfortunately, she becomes literal serial killer bait and ends up kidnapped as the real killer recognizes her by her phone case in the picture.
- Working the Same Case: Subverted. Callie and Tessa believe Lori's murder is linked to the Ohio River Monster killings, but it was actually a copycat perpetrated by Tessa's mother.
