This is a slowly-unfolding mystery set in 2019 about the murder of a college student back in the late nineties. I’d say I liked but didn’t love it.

Every chapter is written from a different character’s point of view, which illustrates just how many people are directly affected by an act of violence like this and how the impact trickles out into the community, sometimes across a span of years. But no one’s perspective is repeated in the novel, meaning that many of the side character arcs don’t see closure, and interesting tidbits that come up in one section are simply left hanging at the end.

Someone in my book club mentioned hearing that this novel started as a short story collection, which tracks with my reading experience. In my ideal version, I would have preferred maybe four or five character’s voices; that way we’d still get the kaleidoscopic, communal feeling, but there would be more space to fully tie together all of the different narratives.

What I loved most about this book was the setting: Chapel Hill, North Carolina! Just down the road from my hometown (Durham) and a place with which I am intimately familiar. As someone who sometimes has trouble visualizing the worlds of the novels I read, I was delighted to have a mental map already drawn up in my head. I felt a thrill of recognition at each local landmark mention, especially Carrburritos, Cosmic Cantina (whose Durham location makes my all-time favorite burrito), and Pepper’s Pizza (an iconic spot that my boyfriend used to take me to circa 2004 and that sadly closed in 2011).

There’s even a UNC classroom scene where a snobby student speaks up, the narrator mentioning that he went to Durham Academy (a private local high school), and oh my gosh that shorthand was just for me. I knew some DA kids in my day, and almost all of them were just so… eye roll. Is this how New Yorkers feel reading the billions of books that are set in their city?? The familiarity! The nostalgia! What a delight.