Picture drawn by Maggie Stiefvater, 2009. Header made by S.F. Robertson, 2010.

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

The Leaving by Tara Altebrando

The Leaving by Tara Altebrando
"Eleven years ago, six kindergartners went missing without a trace. After all that time, the people left behind moved on, or tried to.

Until today. Today five of those kids return. They're sixteen, and they are . . . fine. Scarlett comes home and finds a mom she barely recognizes, and doesn't really recognize the person she's supposed to be, either. But she thinks she remembers Lucas. Lucas remembers Scarlett, too, except they're entirely unable to recall where they've been or what happened to them. Neither of them remember the sixth victim, Max--the only one who hasn't come back. Which leaves Max's sister, Avery, wanting answers. She wants to find her brother--dead or alive--and isn't buying this whole memory-loss story. But as details of the disappearance begin to unfold, no one is prepared for the truth."- summary from Amazon

I'm a huge fan of Tara Altebrando's books and this one is no exception. Full of twists and turns, it's a compelling, suspenseful mystery following 5 kids returned after 11 years away with no memory of where they were (and no memory of the 6th kid who disappeared too). Altebrando knows how to stretch this mystery out, putting little nuggets of information and reveals throughout the book (with most of it coming out in the last 40 pages). The book follows two of the missing kids, Lucas and Scarlett as well as the little sister of the 6th kid who did not return, Avery. Scarlett's narrative is interesting as Altebrando plays around with font, letter/word placement, and drawings; those chapters were my favorite to read. Overall, I highly recommend this thriller mystery!

FTC: Received e-galley from Netgalley. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

1 comment:

  1. I agree that this was a great thriller! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete