mandy

Amanda Cutler brushes her hair, looks, once more, into the mirror, drops the brush, grabs her coat, and heads downstairs, where she will meet the man who will murder her in 17 years. The murder will occur the day after New Year’s. Her body will go missing for three months, before a neighbor’s dog will stumble her remains in a patch of undergrowth near a deserted cabin in the furthest reaches of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Now, though, Amanda’s only concerned about the blind date she’s about to meet. She’s had her fix and fill of blind dates, so what’s another one? Well, there is this: she’s decided that if he’s anything close to acceptable she’s going to try to make it work. She’s tired of being alone. She wants to start a family. She’s 30, after all, and all her friends seem settled. And, indeed, as she is about to find out, he is more than acceptable. He’s actually a good catch, or so he will seem, for about 16 years or so. His name is Roger. He and Amanda will have three children, Faye, Angie and Eric, all of whom will struggle, for the rest of their lives, with the fact that their father killed their mom. And, quite brutally, it is reported.