A Book A Week

"I will solve your mystery. I will save you. It was meant to be me."

I love a good mystery. I love the suspense that builds as you discover clues, slowly putting all of the pieces together until you've finally cracked the case. It should come as no surprise then that the majority of my reading tends to fall into the mystery/thriller genre. I was a bit shocked, then, when I realized that I had yet to read a thriller this year. The fine folks at Berkley Publishing were kind enough to provide me with a copy of Eliza Jane Brazier's debut novel If I Disappear to read and review. As I opened to the first pages, I was quickly thrust into a novel filled with suspense, uncertainty, and paranoia. In short, the perfect kind of thriller to kick off the year. 

Sera's life is in shambles. Her marriage was over before it really even began, she has no job, and she spends her days just aimlessly drifting through life. Really the only thing keeping her going is her obsession with true-crime podcaster Rachel Bard. Rachel is everything Sera wishes she could be. Rachel is a strong woman, sure of her place in the world. She's so confident in the way she digs into cold cases and gives a voice to the missing women that fall through the cracks of criminal investigations. Empowered by this strength, Sera listens to the podcast episodes on repeat. She knows every detail of the crimes and begins to feel a kinship to Rachel and the women she investigates.

One day, the podcast episodes simply stopped. There was no explanation from Rachel, just radio silence. Even more alarming to Sera, is the change in tone to Rachel's last episode. The average listener may not have even taken notice, but Sera is certain of the emotion she detected in Rachel's voice. Fear. Driven by the need to keep the one positive in her life going, and perhaps made confident by the example that Rachel has set for her, Sera decides to take investigating Rachel's absence into her own hands. She drives to the rural town near the ranch where Rachel and her family live and begins to plant herself into Rachel's world. As she encounters Rachel's family and even takes on a job at the ranch, she begins to suspect that she is in over her head. Something foul is afoot, and it will take every fiber of her being to uncover it. 

In If I Disappear author Eliza Jane Brazier spins a twisty tale that balances suspense and misdirection with rich character development. Each page is imbued with an underlying sense of paranoia and dread, the kind of writing that kept me ready for any surprise and eager to keep reading more. The main character Sera is a classic unreliable narrator. Her mistrust of the supporting characters is only heightened by her skepticism at her own assertions. The book is as much about solving a missing person case as it is about finding a purpose for living. Brazier meticulously weaves these two threads throughout the writing, each quietly echoing the other. This comes together in a conclusion that adequately solves the mystery and brings a deeper sense of understanding to the main character. If I Disappear is a confident debut thriller that served as a perfect way to kick off my reading of the genre this year. 

For more information visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2021, 5)