Not for me, but it wasn’t a bad book. Just a hard read once we get into the last bit. .

 

Energy: Empathetic. Energetic. Restless. 

 

🐺 Growls: If I knew the entire premise, I wouldn’t have read it, too irl anxiety-inducing! That’s not the book’s fault, just a 'me' pref

Eva is kidnapped by a fundamentalist Christian cult and there’s a terrorist attack at an event that was supposed to be a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community

🐕 Howls: Slow pacing I liked until the last bit (just because I didn't wanna be there anymore). 

🐩 Tail Wags: The rationale for the mother-daughter social media channel and how it evolved. Initial mystery and Eva navigating what happens. Snippets between chapters. The characters. 

 

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in Landing, Minnesota near Lake Superior

Perspectives (2): First we get the perspective of a parent dealing with the disappearance of their teen who just quit their shared Instagram travel account ahead of graduating. We get to see how they got started and the effect that had on them both. Then we get the perspective of the missing teen, revealing what happened and how. 

Chapters interspersed with snippets of past Instagram posts, podcast and other transcripts, and practice college essays. 

Timeline: Current (2020s). Past (2010s). Linear for both timelines. 

🔥 Fuel: Cliffhangers. Emotional investment in characters. Moral quandaries. Race against time. Where is Eva? What happened between her and her mother before her disappearance? 

📖 Cred: Hyper-realistic to plausible

 

·       Fly on the wall, reader role as the empathetic listener 

·       Bittersweet mother-daughter bonds 

·       Characters you can root for

·       Instagram travel influencers behind-the scenes

·       Shattered illusions

·       Missing person mystery & perspective

·       Psychological survival thriller action scenes

·       Slow-burn psychological suspense

·       First love coming-of-age
·       Swipes of Byronic heroism

 

Content Heads-Up: Alcoholism (parent). Loss of parent (as teen). Missing child (teen). Poverty, homelessness (in childhood). Generational trauma. Bullying, fatphobia, body shaming (brief but graphic; high school). Potential false accusation. Sexual harassment (online, isolated environment). Adult/minor relationship. Confinement, kidnapping. Injury, blood. Radicalization, anti-government. Fundamentalism (Christian; anti-LGBTQ, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, White nationalism). Bombing, mass shootings. Gun violence.

 

Rep: Black, White, Latina, and Indigenous American. Hetero. Cisgender. Pale, dark, freckled, and golden skin tones.

 

📚 Format: Paperback