Published by Random House on 08 Jan 2019
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On a scorching July night in 1983, a group of teenagers goes camping in the forest. Bright and brilliant, they are destined for great things, and the youngest of the group—Aurora Jackson—is delighted to be allowed to tag along. The evening starts like any other—they drink, they dance, they fight, they kiss. Some of them slip off into the woods in pairs, others are left jealous and heartbroken. But by morning, Aurora has disappeared. Her friends claim that she was safe the last time they saw her, right before she went to sleep. An exhaustive investigation is launched, but no trace of the teenager is ever found.
Thirty years later, Aurora’s body is unearthed in a hideaway that only the six friends knew about, and Jonah Sheens is put in charge of solving the long-cold case. Back in 1983, as a young cop in their small town, he had known the teenagers—including Aurora—personally, even before taking part in the search. Now he’s determined to finally get to the truth of what happened that night. Sheens’s investigation brings the members of the camping party back to the forest, where they will be confronted once again with the events that left one of them dead, and all of them profoundly changed forever.
This book started off strong with short chapters alternating between two timelines: one from the night of the crime from Aurora's perspective, and the other 30 years later when her body was discovered. However, the story started to drag on after awhile and the suspense created at the beginning of the book was lost.
My main qualm was with Jonah. Besides the fact that I didn't like his personality or his character, I felt that the way he jumped on every lead in the investigation detracted from the story's suspense. Much of the book was him suspecting each member of the group of friends at one point or another.
On the other hand, none of the friends in the group ever suspected one another. I felt that this story could have been much more suspenseful and psychological if they did. Another way to amp up the psychological aspect of the story could have been to dive deeper into the personal psychological changes in each of the friends since Aurora's disappearance. The fact that there was a change was stated but hardly explored.
The end wasn't satisfying. But I did get to the end. Despite my desire for more suspense, there was enough curiosity in me to keep reading to the end and know once and for all what happened to Aurora.
Reading buddy: Tegan's review, Sadia's review
