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Beautiful and intricate, this is both a character-driven novel and a tantalizing mystery, — and one of epic proportions, in every way imaginable. A haunting story that unfolds from multiple perspectives, all centering in and around the inhabitants (local or summertime) of a tiny rural town in a wild and primeval forest setting, where a lavish adult party takes place, a stone’s throw away from a campground teeming with the privileged children of only-the-elite Manhattanites.
The resulting cascade of happenings will reveal itself, mainly through the eyes of Louise, a small, beautiful (and astoundingly neglected) now twenty-three year old camp counselor; Tracy, a too-tall, insecure (but self-described as “loyal”) twelve-year-old camper; and Alice, the much-misunderstood emotionally-fragile trophy-wife of the rich and austere van Laar “first family” son, heir to the lavish property and its connected campgrounds.
When the discovery of a missing twelve-year old female camper wreaks havoc on literally everyone involved (in every possible way), it is perhaps no surprise that each of our main protagonists will find their lives irreversibly affected. As the search mounts (unsuccessfully and very soon, frantically) and more and more increasingly-terrible suspects evolve (including, no spoilers here, a formerly convicted serial killer), when a past disappearance appears to be directly related to current events, the complexity of the entire milieu suddenly spirals into overdrive.
Exactly how the chips will fall, and who of our entire cast of characters will remain free to see it through, is a tale that will keep a reader transfixed throughout its entirety – a winding, evocative, gut-wrenching tale, ultimately revealing the never-too-distant underbelly of childhood family experience, (good and bad), and the trail it will inevitably leave (not very far at all) behind, on each of us.
A cornucopia of a book, dazzling in characterization, scope and diversity, — revealing a narrative that this reader, for one, would call simply remarkable.
