The Wolf Wants In

Finished June 27
The Wolf Wants In by Laura McHugh

This suspense novel is set in rural Kansas, in and around a town called Blackwater. The main character here is Sadie Keller, the youngest of three children. Sadie's life didn't turned out as she imagined. She got married young and moved back to the area she grew up in when she got pregnant wanting her family near her for support. The marriage didn't last and Sadie now lives alone, with her daughter Lily spending the weekdays with her ex-husband Greg for school.
Her sister Becca and her mom live close by as did her brother Shane before he died recently. Shane's death was unexpected, and unexplained, and Shane's wife Crystle doesn't seem as upset by it as Sadie and her sister would expect, and isn't sharing information with them.
When Shane died, Becca and Lily had to go in and find the family things that they wanted as Crystle was selling or burning everything.
Sadie knew the car that Shane restored was deeded to her mother and she arranged for towing of it, and she took the pie safe that was their grandmother's. The two women also took a bunch of boxes of papers that were out near the bonfire that was going. Sadie is trying to get access to Shane's medical records, but she needs Crystle's permission and that doesn't seem likely.
As the story begins, Becca lets Sadie know that she heard on the news that human remains were found in the woods near them, and there is speculation that they belong to the a young girl who went missing a while back. The girl, Macey, was friends with Lily at one point, as Sadie was friends with her mother Hannah. Sadie hasn't been in touch with Hannah in a while, but this makes her reach out to her.
Another voice in the story is Henley, a young women who recently finished school and is saving to move away and start her life anew. Henley lives with her mom, Missy, a recovering drug addict, youngest in a large family that generally lives on the wrong side of the law. One of Henley's cousins is Crystle and Henley may know something about what happened to Shane. Missy worked as a housekeeper for the wealthy local business owner, and she has been getting Henley to help her lately. When Missy disappears, Henley keeps up with the housekeeping, but also gets on the radar of the houseowner Earl and his delinquent son Jason. She is debating whether she should leave sooner despite not having all her plans in place, but her waiting may put her in harm's way.
This is a story of families, of the scourge of drug addiction in America, and of the value of community. I liked it.