NetGalley ARC | After You Vanished

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐

I should have known.

The blurb compared this to a meeting of Sadie and We Were Liars, two of my most favorite YA books ever. Sadie STILL guts me, years later. I can't think about that book without wanting to cry. Liars was such an emotional punch also.

Still, I should have known.

This book is...fine. It's not the greatest YA mystery/thriller I've ever read, mainly because there isn't really a mystery.

Teddy and Izzy are twins. Teddy loves Bottomrock Lake, the place she's worked a lifeguard every summer for years. One late night last summer Izzy and Toby were at the lake together and had a race of sorts - Izzy would swim across the lake, Toby would run around it, and they would see who was fastest.

Toby won by default - Izzy never came out of the lake.

Izzy drowning is something Teddy can't take seriously. Izzy was a strong, accomplished swimmer and Olympic hopeful. Drowning makes no sense. There's also the issue of her missing passport. But what could Izzy have possibly wanted to disappear from? On the verge of adulthood, so many possibilities before her, disappearing makes as much sense as drowning.

This summer Toby comes to work at the lake as well. Teddy is suspicious of him, the last person to see her sister alive for sure. Teddy practically drives herself crazy trying to figure out what secrets he may know about her sister, things Teddy never knew.

Sounds fantastic, no? It could have been. But the Sadie/Liars comparisons did it no favors. My expectations were probably too high. There's just something so horrible and gritty and beautiful and traumatic about Sadie that I will never be able to put into words. Those same feelings are not here at all, because the only thing the stories really have in common is a missing/dead sister. Everything Sadie goes through to find answers, Teddy's journey does not compare to that at all. That doesn't mean there isn't grief, but it's something totally different and I can't explain it.

A lot of reviewers have commented on the pace of the novel and their frustration with it. That didn't bother me at all, it was kind of a slow burn and for me it works. I think it worked to the author's advantage, because that's how grief works. Some days nothing happens, and some days everything happens.

The novel is told from Teddy's point of view, as she talks to Izzy, trying to work out what really happened that night. Overall I think this does a good job in showing Teddy's growth throughout the book, as she learns more and more about Izzy - apparently twins do have secrets from each other, something Teddy never considered.

I would definitely recommend this book to those who enjoy the genre. But please ignore the Sadie/Liars comparison to fully enjoy it for its own worth.