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Alex d'Meiter lost her daughter in an alcoholic stupor on the beach when Cora Rose was five. Two years later, she has begun the long and slow process of recovery from both alcohol abuse and the loss of her child, but she realizes it will never go away: mothers never let go. Alex loses herself in her work as a nurse anesthetist until a strange experience with two patients in the hospital one night changes her life, thrusting her into a quest of spirituality, mystery, faith and the paranormal.

After killing her first two children, Kathleen dumps her newest living baby into a garbage bin. Sensing this action, Eric McBride, an autistic young man, homes in on her location, rescues the child and shoots Kathleen in the stomach. But Kathleen defends herself, knifing Eric in the belly, and both end up under Alex's care. An eye for an eye? Two actions that put the world in balance? Alex doesn't have a clue but senses a link between herself and both of them.

C.W. Kesting has written a flowing tale that interweaves the real and the paranormal that holds concepts as much as its characters at its center. Kesting based the story on several true cases of parents who have killed their children, and the idea of mothers never letting go lies at the novel's center. He explores the balance of the universe where light can't exist without dark and good can't exist without evil, perhaps in search of an answer as to the intense bond between mothers and their children: Where one mother grieves so fully at the loss of a child while another can take that innocent life herself.

He writes with a multi-faceted style: at once simple, but powerful, in narration and the description of the bleakness of a lost child and ethereal when discussing the mystical complexities of the soul. Time and space, free will and how choices are made are just some of the touched-on philosophies. It's a heart-wrenching tale of love, despair and rebirth with descriptions as vivid as to make one think they were real and not on the page. One that comes to mind is the comparison of a striking sunset to the plumage of a colorful bird. I look forward to reading more of Kesting's books.

Katherine Petersen started reading as a young child and hasn't stopped. She still thinks she can read all the books she wants, but might, at some point, realize the impossibility of this mission. While she enjoys other genres, she thrives on fantasy, science fiction and mysteries.