Alexandra Burt brings a different kind of psychological thriller to the page with Shadow Garden.

She tells the story of the Pryor family and the glossy, extravagant life they live.

There’s plastic surgeon Edward, whose hands build the family’s wealth; mother Donna, whose obsessive love for their only child, Penelope, allows her oversee her dysfunction while she looks for new ways to spend Edward’s money; and Penelope, who has managed to get away with more than any young woman should by the time she’s grown.

It’s a study in family dynamics when Donna finds herself ensconced in a beautiful condo with a housekeeper after a fall that has broken her hip. She gets her therapy as her hip heals. But where is Edward, and most of all, why hasn’t Donna heard from Penelope recently?

Donna is befriended by a woman who keeps a journal, but soon becomes suspicious of everyone around here. Who is really on her side? Who can she trust?

A character study with a twist, Shadow Garden shows what can happen when a family will go to any lengths to keep their secrets from the outside world.