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SAVING GRACE
“I’m the only one who knows what really happened to those girls…”
For twenty-four years, Mary Grace Dobbs has been searching for salvation. Orphaned at eleven, she was forced to live on the charity of her Bible salesman uncle. At school, a bully made her life a nightmare. Everything changed when a newcomer to town became her first and only best friend. Two months later, search parties were sent out to find her two classmates, who were never seen again.
Today, Mary Grace is a single mother and the first female sheriff of her Arkansas town. Keeping order and her demons at bay becomes an impossible task when the Black drifter who was a suspect in the earlier disappearances returns to Repentance…and another sixth grader vanishes.
Set in a remote mountain town, where secrets run as deep as the hollows, Saving Grace is at once a spellbinding tale of innocence lost and an edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller. This startling debut novel introduces a captivating protagonist whose concept of good and evil can shape a young girl living in the South—then and now.
Listen to Scarlet editor-in-chief Luisa Smith in this audio introduction to Saving Grace!
Praise
“A Best Debut of 2021.”
—Suspense magazine
“Fasten your seat belts! SAVING GRACE is the scariest literary ride of the year. Debbie Babitt’s debut novel is nothing short of breathtaking and the ending will blow your socks off.”
—John Lescroart, New York Times bestselling author of Poison and The Rule of Law
“Saving Grace introduces us to a town of harrowing secrets ― and to its sheriff, Mary Grace Dobbs, who doesn’t even know that the worst of these secrets are hers. An ingenious, multi-generational plot reaches a terrifying crescendo you won’t easily forget.”
—Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of House On Fire and The Switch
“Saving Grace is a big, southern gothic thriller packed with secrets. The characters jumped off the page, drawing me in until it was impossible to put down. Original, dark, and staggering.”
—Samantha Downing, USA Today bestselling author of My Lovely Wife and He Started It
“This is a riveting thriller that captures you on the first page and never lets you go. Debbie Babitt masterfully uses voice and spare, evocative prose to create a spellbinding story. Warning: Once you start this book, you won’t want to stop.”
—William Bernhardt, bestselling author of The Last Chance Lawyer
“Saving Grace intertwines the past with the present, revealing secrets long buried, but never forgotten, until it all comes crashing down with relentless speed. A taut, thrilling read.”
—Robin Burcell, New York Times bestselling author
“A Southern gothic thriller replete with sins real and imagined… The sins of the past come back with a vengeance to haunt Mary Grace Dobbs {who} feels guilty about what she imagines to be her part in an ancient mystery. But now it’s up to her to solve a fresh murder and protect her daughter… Nothing is what it seems in Babitt’s disturbing debut, a creepy tale of hate, evil, and redemption.”
—Kirkus
“The author skillfully teases the long-buried secrets…the twisty final pages lead to an explosive climax. {Will} leave fans of psychological suspense wanting more.”
—Publishers Weekly
“This thrilling debut suspense novel will keep you at the edge of your seat…”
—SHE READS, selected as one of their Most Anticipated Thrillers of 2021
“This startling debut novel introduces a captivating protagonist whose concept of good and evil can shape a young girl—then and now.”
—A BOOK AND A DREAM, selected as one of their Best Mystery and Thriller Books of 2021
REVIEWS
EXCERPT
I was coming up on the anniversary of my parents’ death when the girls began disappearing.
That summer twenty-four years ago, right before it all started, I was the one who wanted to disappear.
I nearly got my wish.
But three months later, I wasn’t the reason for the panic tearing through town. I wasn’t the one search parties went combing the woods to find, while folks prayed they wouldn’t come home with a body to bury. It wasn’t my face staring out from the missing children posters tacked to every tree.
That was when I really wanted to disappear, just vanish without a trace. A girl who was really and truly gone.
Because I knew that nothing I did would change what I’d done. I could repent for a thousand Sundays and it wouldn’t bring back those girls.
Was I sorry?
I wish I could say I was. I know that I suffered. There were some in town who would say I didn’t suffer enough. That I needed to confess, confession being the only true path to salvation. And they might be right, but I was too afraid to travel down that road.
That’s what I remember most. Being scared. Scared I’d be found out. Scared of what I’d see in everyone’s eyes if I told the truth. Scared of the evil that felt like it was part of my blood, something I could feel shifting and growing and pulsing like a second heartbeat.
I was terrified I’d burn in hell.
And I wouldn’t ever be saved.