Author: Thrity Umrigar
Year published: 2026
Category: Adult fiction (mystery, LGBTQ)
Pages: 320
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Location: (my 2026 Google Reading map): USA (OH) and India
Summary: One night after a party, old grievances surface between married couple Aliya and Sam and the night ends badly with a heated argument. Sam goes for a run early the next morning to clear her head—and doesn’t come back.
Aliya reports her wife missing, but as a gay, Muslim daughter of immigrants, she can't escape the scrutiny and suspicion of those around her. Scared and furious and feeling isolated as strangers and acquaintances alike doubt her innocence, Aliya makes one wrong choice after another. She must fight to prove her innocence in the public eye even as she is torn between her fear that Sam is dead and her desire to find and save her wife. But is safety ever truly possible for them?
A provocative examination of suburban mores, Missing Sam captures the terror manifested in today’s political climate, and the real dangers, both physical and psychological, of being brown and queer in America.
Review: I thought Umrigar's Honor (link to my review) was very well done, and I was looking forward to reading this one. Wow. Just wow.
There is so much going on in this book, and it's all good. Sam and Ali are such good representations of marriage/long term relationships. They fight, they love, they get irritated with one another, they make up, and they have guilt. What happens when all those normal things exist at the same time as a major trauma (isn't all trauma major?)? Everything is flipped on it's head. Samantha's trauma is just so awful and Umrigar does an excellent job of showing how it affects the Samantha, Ali, their families, and their friends.
Trauma is long-lasting; it infiltrates our lives in ways we do not expect or recognize. Umrigar shows this so well in this novel. But it isn't just a book about trauma. It's also about family, relationships, expectations, and healing. Most importantly, about healing. Reading about Samantha and Ali's journey with their parents and one another was so rewarding.
Challenges for which this counts:
- Alphabet (Author)--U
- Literary Escapes--Ohio
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