Author: Liz Moore
Year published: 2024
Category: Adult fiction (mystery)
Pages: 496 pages
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Location: (my 2025 Google Reading map): USA (NY)
Summary: When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide
Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.
As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.
Review: I have had this on my TBR shelf for quite a while, and I think I kept putting it off because of its length. But, the Big Summer Book Challenge is here so I pulled it off the shelf and gave it a whirl. I am so glad I did!
This is a story that spans multiple decades and intertwined families and I was never sure who the guilty parties were until right at the end. There were so many people who behaved badly, felt entitled, and covered up their actions with their "connections," that it was difficult to know who was guilty, who was just a jerk, and who the victims were.
I had to keep reminding myself that "present day" was 1975. There were no cell phones, and expectations of women and children were quite different from today. I was 10 years old in 1975 and the camp setting and treatment of kids and women felt familiar. The story and feelings were real and believable, making the novel that much more powerful.
I love that a three-day weekend allowed me to use most of today to read this book in a marathon session; I was so into it that I had yogurt for dinner because I didn't want to take away time to make something "real."
Challenges for which this counts:
- 20 Books of Summer
- Big Book Summer--496 pages
No comments
Post a Comment