Book excerpt: Family ties so strong you can't escape... Mary Olivia Pentecost, known as Mop, was born into one of the wealthiest families in the country--and one of the most guarded. Now, two years after her mother's mysterious death, Mop is seeking closure on the disquieting tragedy by returning to the New England seaside estate of her cloistered Aunty Liv--once her closest relative and confidante. But behind the walls of the isolated estate, the shadows of the past are darker than Mop imagined. The puzzles of the family history are not to be shared, but unearthed. With each revelation comes a new, foreboding threat--and for Mop, the grave suspicion that to discover Aunty Liv's secrets is to become a prisoner of them. How well do we know the people we love? How well do we want to know them? The answers are as twisted as a tangle of vines in this throat-clutching novel of psychological suspense.