An AMAZON BEST BOOK OF JULY 2021  " A sure-footed, darkly funny, semi-satirical thriller that never misses a beat." Amazon Editors Review "A gripping blend of danger and sharp social commentary on high-stakes education, the 1%, and suburban tropes: imagine a coffee date with Lisa Lutz's Spellmans and Tom Perotta's suburbanites in a sun-drenched Twin Peaks."  Booklist , starred review Escaping New York City and the espionage case that made her question everything, recently widowed FBI Agent Lina Connerly returns home to sell the house she has inherited in tony Greenfield, California. With her teenage son Rory, Lina hopes to reassemble her life, reevaluate her career, and find a clear way forward. Adrift and battling insomnia, she discovers that her father's sleepy hometown has been transformed into a Silicon Valley suburb on steroids, obsessed with an annual exam called The Wonder Test. When students at her son's high school go missing, reappearing under mysterious circumstances on abandoned beaches, Lina must summon her strength and her investigative instincts, pushing her own ethical boundaries to the limits in order to solve the crimes. Meanwhile, an old espionage case called Red Vine keeps calling her back into the fold. While Lina struggles to balance her new role as a single mother and the complex counterintelligence puzzles she is so adept at solving, Greenfield's shadowy dangers creep closer to her own home. A searing view of a culture that puts the wellbeing of children at risk for advancement and prestige, and a captivating story of the lengths a mother will go for her son. "International spydom meets cutthroat suburban elitism...The overlay of international spy craft on suburban California, whose shiny facade conceals the most heinous of sins and vanities, is surprisingly effective... The plot is sound, the action exciting, the characters resoundingly human ." - Kirkus Reviews A " sharply written, subtly satirical thriller ... Vividly sketched characters, escalating stakes, and evocative prose distinguish Richmond's latest, which explores themes of grief and greed. Minor mysteries and assorted absurdities complement the thorny central puzzle, adding texture and tension. Susan Isaacs fans will be pleased." - Publishers Weekly " The Wonder Test deftly explores the underbelly of San Francisco, the pressures of Silicon Valley, and the love between a mother and her teenage son. I was captivated by the novel's simultaneously tough and tender protagonist, FBI agent Lina Connerly, and the plot twists kept me riveted until the small hours of the morning. After this, I'll read anything Michelle Richmond writes."-- Vendela Vida, author of We Run the Tides " The Wonder Test is a fast-paced, moving exploration of motherhood and money, danger and deception, privilege and pretense. Michelle Richmond delivers the perfect thinking person's page-turner: smart, suspenseful, layered. I couldn't put it down."-- Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Mother May I " The Wonder Test is fast-paced and smart, thoughtful and full of heart. I never thought a book could combine the thrilling twists of a Sue Grafton novel and the literary complexity of the best Tana French, but Michelle Richmond has done it. The Wonder Test is a triumph and a joy."-- Amanda Eyre Ward, New York Times bestselling author of The Jetsetters "THE WONDER TEST features a terrific, clever, and timely concept, and Lina Connerly, a loving mother, is also exactly the kind of tough-as-nails heroine to chase down the truth. Gripping, frightening, swift as a bullet. The last hundred pages could give you whiplash." Dean Koontz, #1 New York Times bestselling author Michelle Richmond is the New York Times bestselling author of seven novels and story collections, including The Marriage Pact , which has been published in 30 languages;  Golden State;   The Year of Fog;  and Hum . She received the Truman Capote Prize for Alabama's Distinguished Writer of the Short Story and the Grace Paley Prize for Fiction. She lives with her family in Northern California.