Review by Booklist Review
ldquo;The girls are all dead. And I should know, because I'm the one who killed them." Last summer, Nan and her best friends went to Saltcedar Canyon to explore, but they forgot the rope and anchor, so Nan stayed behind with the boat. She watched the three girls enter the canyon and waited all night, but they never came out. At least, that's the story she told the police. Now, a year later, at the vigil, Luce is found floating in the water, alive. Yet Nan vividly remembers smashing her head in with a rock. Luce doesn't seem to remember what Nan did or why, but now the police are looking for the other two again and asking new questions. Nan has to scramble to manipulate the investigation while carefully probing Luce for information, but having Luce back is dredging up memories Nan would rather keep buried. Power's tense psychological thriller alternates between the time lines, weaving together the days leading up to that fateful night last summer and the aftermath of Luce's return, telling a story of obsessive love and ultimate betrayal from Nan's intensely private perspective. Power masterfully seeds Nan's narrative with subtle clues to her unreliability that will keep readers hooked until the full truth is told--and it is a doozy. This gripping, smartly plotted thriller has high appeal.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A missing Utah teen resurfaces to the surprise of her murderer in this gleefully twisted psychological thriller from Power (Burn Our Bodies Down). It's been a year since Nan Carver's best friends--Edie, Jane, and Luce--vanished during a moonlit trip into Saltcedar Canyon. Many think someone abducted the trio, but Nan knows the truth; though she told everyone she stayed with the boat while the girls went hiking, she actually accompanied them to a secret, fathomless swimming hole, where she bashed in Luce's head before drowning Jane and Edie. Nan is attending a lakeside vigil on the anniversary of the alleged disappearance when boaters find Luce floating in the water, alive but with no recollection of what happened or where she's been. A panicked Nan struggles to appear supportive of Luce and the newly reopened police investigation while scrambling to obscure the facts--or at least the facts as Nan remembers them. Power's tale unfolds via Nan's increasingly troubled--and troubling--first-person-present narration, and flashbacks provide context and proffer clues surrounding the event. Frantic pacing catapults readers past occasional plotting pitfalls while fostering anxiety and unease. All characters cue as white. Ages 14--up. Agent: Jessica Mileo and Kim Witherspoon, InkWell Management. (June)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up--A girl returns after a year missing, and no one is more surprised than her best friend--because she's the one who killed her. While that feels like a big reveal early on, this is a delightfully thrilling look at the lead-up and aftermath of the fateful summer night when best friends Nan, Luce, Edie, and Jane entered Saltcedar Canyon for a swim and only Nan returned. Now, a year later, Luce is plucked out of the lake during a vigil for the missing friends. But why did Nan, whose first-person perspective propels the novel in Now (this summer) and Then (last summer) chapters, do it? And will Luce, suffering from amnesia, remember what happened? Readers who enjoy an unreliable, uncertain, and at times unhinged narrator will love Nan's voice and her simmering rage ("if I ever kill her again, it'll be with my bare hands") as everything she thought was over rises to the surface, along with some secrets even she couldn't fathom. The author explores friendship, fitting in, crushes, revenge, and the lies we tell ourselves in this tight, fast-moving narrative. Skin tone is not described, but Nan has blond hair and blue eyes, Luce has blue eyes and curly red hair, Edie has dark hair and "quicksilver" eyes, and Jane has dark hair. There is LGBTQIA+ representation in the main cast. Hand to fans of Rebecca Stafford's Rabbit & Juliet and Megan Lally's No Place to Hide. VERDICT Unique and unputdownable. Essential for thriller fans.--Amanda Mastrull
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A teenage girl's secrets and lies come back to haunt her. In the small lake resort town of Saltcedar, Utah, 17-year-old Nan is reeling from the disappearance of her three best friends, Edie, Jane, and Luce, who went missing during a nighttime hike in a local canyon. One year after their vanishing, Nan, her parents, and the entire town of Saltcedar are attending a vigil for the missing girls when Luce is miraculously found alive--a complete shock to Nan, who's certain she'd killed all three of them. To her extreme relief, Nan learns that Luce doesn't remember anything about what happened to her or where she's been for the last year. As the police try to figure out what happened with the help of both girls, Nan's lies are brought ever closer to unraveling while even darker secrets are brought to the surface, threatening everything Nan knows to be true about her life. Told in alternating timelines from before and after the disappearance, the story has multiple satisfying and unexpected twists and turns, leading to a shocking conclusion. Fans of Power will be happy to find her signature dark, flowing prose in abundance in this unputdownable thriller. The main characters are cued white, and there's some queer representation among the four girls. A gripping story of obsession and betrayal that will keep readers engrossed from the very first page. (content warnings)(Thriller. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
