What She Saw
An investigative reporter returns to the scene of a decades-old crime to put her own unsettled past to rest in this chilling suspense novel by New York Times bestselling author Mary Burton.
Cold case reporter Sloane Grayson has come to a small mountain town in Virginia to solve a mystery.
Thirty years ago, her mother was one of four women who vanished during a music festival. The event's promoter was eventually convicted of their murders, and Sheriff CJ Taggart closed the case. But for Sloane, it's still open. Because the bodies were never found.
With Taggart now long dead, Sloane must make do with questioning the victims' families and the few remaining witnesses once again. If they're still willing to dredge up memories of a crime that made their town notorious. As for the incarcerated killer, he has always maintained his innocence. Sloane isn't entirely convinced he's lying.
Somewhere nearby, unmarked graves conceal the bones and secrets of the dead. Sloane will do anything to find them and unearth the truth, even if that means playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse with someone determined to stop her...
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Community Reviews
I like Mary Burton, who is a really good writer and storyteller. I’ve been a fan of her work for years and have read 13 of her books over the years. So, I was excited when my book club voted to make this the February club read. Once again, Burton did not disappoint.
The book summary basically introduces the primary MC’s Sloan Grayson and Sheriff Taggert. Before Taggert died a few years earlier, he had forwarded his case file to Sloan hoping that she would be successful where he had not, hoping that she could find the bodies. There is also secondary storyline of Sloan and Grant, the grandson of the woman who leased the land for the festival back in 1994. Grant is a former cop who is helping Sloan get an interview with Cohen as well as helping her with any other needs she may have, especially any romantic ones.
The story flips back and forth between 1994 when the women went missing after a local music festival and Sheriff Taggert’s subsequent investigation and case to find the women and 2025 of Sloan’s reinvestigation of the case. There are also some mentions of the trial of the music promoter, Rafe Cohen’s, trial for the murder of the women. Cohen is up for parole again and has always claimed his innocence. He is hoping that after 31yrs and no bodies, that the parole board will be agreeable to a compassionate release now that he is dying of cancer. Like Taggert, Sloan also suspects that Cohen had an accomplice that Cohen is not lying when he is repeatedly asked where the bodies are. Both Taggert and Sloan are certain it is nothing more than a case of plausible deniability – his accomplice never told him what was done with the bodies.
By the halfway point, I have no idea of a killer, but I am suspicious of three people and really leaning more towards one than the other two. It’s in the second half that a major twist is revealed, and while it was a shocker, it didn’t rattle me enough to sway my suspicions. However, by the time that scary and intense ending came around, my suspicions had moved from one of my suspects to one of my other suspicions, which didn’t affect my opinion or rating of the quality of the story.
The character development of Sloan, Grant and a couple of other characters was well done, and the pacing was steady to fast. The storyline was interesting and kept me engaged throughout the story. The writing was classic Burton! I’m looking at an overall rating of 4.2 that I will be rounding down to a 4star review.
The book summary basically introduces the primary MC’s Sloan Grayson and Sheriff Taggert. Before Taggert died a few years earlier, he had forwarded his case file to Sloan hoping that she would be successful where he had not, hoping that she could find the bodies. There is also secondary storyline of Sloan and Grant, the grandson of the woman who leased the land for the festival back in 1994. Grant is a former cop who is helping Sloan get an interview with Cohen as well as helping her with any other needs she may have, especially any romantic ones.
The story flips back and forth between 1994 when the women went missing after a local music festival and Sheriff Taggert’s subsequent investigation and case to find the women and 2025 of Sloan’s reinvestigation of the case. There are also some mentions of the trial of the music promoter, Rafe Cohen’s, trial for the murder of the women. Cohen is up for parole again and has always claimed his innocence. He is hoping that after 31yrs and no bodies, that the parole board will be agreeable to a compassionate release now that he is dying of cancer. Like Taggert, Sloan also suspects that Cohen had an accomplice that Cohen is not lying when he is repeatedly asked where the bodies are. Both Taggert and Sloan are certain it is nothing more than a case of plausible deniability – his accomplice never told him what was done with the bodies.
By the halfway point, I have no idea of a killer, but I am suspicious of three people and really leaning more towards one than the other two. It’s in the second half that a major twist is revealed, and while it was a shocker, it didn’t rattle me enough to sway my suspicions. However, by the time that scary and intense ending came around, my suspicions had moved from one of my suspects to one of my other suspicions, which didn’t affect my opinion or rating of the quality of the story.
The character development of Sloan, Grant and a couple of other characters was well done, and the pacing was steady to fast. The storyline was interesting and kept me engaged throughout the story. The writing was classic Burton! I’m looking at an overall rating of 4.2 that I will be rounding down to a 4star review.
What She Saw had all the pieces of a thriller I should have devoured. A dogged cold case reporter, four missing women, a small mountain town full of suspicious men, and a decades-old crime tied directly to the heroine’s grief. I went in ready to follow Sloane Grayson straight into the secrets everyone wanted buried. Sadly, the book started stronger than it finished.
Sloane returns to her hometown to investigate the Festival Four. They are a group of women who vanished thirty years earlier during the Mountain Music Festival. Her mother was among them. The convicted man has always claimed he has no idea where they are buried. Sloane drives into town armed with old case files, sharp instincts, and very little patience for people telling her to stop asking questions.
Sloane was the highlight early on. She is relentless, blunt, and completely willing to be the disruption in every room she enters. I love a woman who walks into a town full of secrets and immediately becomes everyone’s problem. Former Sheriff Taggart secretly sent her the missing persons case files before his supposed suicide. This gave the investigation an intriguing little spark. Sloane dives headfirst into interviews with people connected to the festival. Every single person acts like they personally buried evidence behind a shed.
The middle lost me. Too many scenes circled the same warning of go away, stop digging, and leave the past alone. The investigation started to feel stalled. The repetition dulled the suspense. I wanted movement. Instead, I got another local acting shady while pretending Sloane was the problem.
The romance with Grant also did not work for me. Sloane became less sharp as their relationship took up more page space. Grant often felt like an obstacle parked directly in the middle of her investigation. He conveniently forgets to mention that he inherited the land where the festival took place. Sloane just accepts the explanation instead of side-eyeing him into next week. Sir, one of the missing women is her mother. That feels like information worth sharing.
Grant is also a private investigator with endless police connections who becomes intensely attached to Sloane in about five business minutes. Then he puts a tracker on her Jeep. Sloane brushes it off like a quirky little romance detail. No, ma’am. That is not cute. That is a red flag with a siren attached. His sudden obsession with the idea that Sloane might be pregnant was also bizarre. She is on her way to interview Colton in prison, and Grant chooses that moment to spiral into a pregnancy theory nobody asked for. Let the woman investigate, Grant.
The ending rushed through answers that needed more room to breathe. After so many pages of slow progress, major reveals arrived too quickly, and the aftermath barely had time to register. Sloane spent years searching for her mother, so the resolution deserved more than a brief discovery and a walk away.
Several red herrings also felt unfinished. Kevin’s unsettling behavior raised so many questions like his fixation on Debra, his cagey interview, and his anger issues. Then the book basically said, “Never mind,” and moved on. Susan being Tristan, one of the presumed-dead Festival Four, should have been huge. Then, she disappeared into the wind before the story gave that reveal the attention it needed.
What She Saw had a compelling setup and a heroine I wanted to root for. The pacing, romance, and rushed resolution kept it from becoming the gripping cold case thriller it promised to be. I wanted buried secrets with a jaw-dropping reveal. I got a strong start, a dragging middle, and an ending that sprinted past the good stuff. Pick this up if you enjoy cold case thrillers, nosy investigative reporters, and small towns stuffed with secrets where you side eye the entire cast.