Mount Orange, Florida is a small town with big secrets. 20 years ago, Celeste and Bailey, teenagers and best friends, were brutally murdered while camping. Their murders have never been solved. But it’s not for lack of trying from the true crime community and its obsessed fans.
Trulee is a recent high school graduate who’s always been fascinated with the case, and spends most of her time free-diving. Her favorite place to dive is the Well, near where the girls were murdered. And one of her favorite dive partners is East, her boyfriend of several years, best friend for her whole life, and my favorite character. Protect East at all costs, he deserves the world. Unfortunately, he’s only Tru’s dive partner until mysterious new girl, Rio, rolls into town.
Rio and Tru have an instant connection and bond over their interest in the murder case. But when suspicious things start happening in the town again, they wonder if they can find the killer before he or she finds them.
The town in this story is almost its own character, which I really loved. The descriptions are so vivid throughout the story, I felt fully immersed. And also like I needed bug spray. The air is humid and sticky, there’s suspicious small-town politics, embarrassing family members, and viscerally realistic swamps and forests. I don’t know how any of these characters were outside for more than 5 minutes at a time, I read this in January in Montana but wanted to turn on my AC for them vicariously.
I enjoyed the supernatural twist in this being something that was up front and not The Twist of the book. It added an interesting angle but didn’t overpower the mystery for me, and I’ve never read a story that did that. I guessed part of the big reveal but there was enough I didn’t see coming for me to be both surprised and vindicated by my half-right guesses.
I really enjoyed the plot and atmosphere of this, but wanted to connected more with Tru and Rio as characters than I did. Tru’s journey of self-discovery is clearly part of her arc on several levels, but I never really got to the point where I felt like I knew her enough to be fully comfortable in her POV. Also maybe part of the problem was how much I loved East. Maybe if he sucked I’d have shipped the girls more!
Thanks to Penguin Teen for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review!
Trulee is a recent high school graduate who’s always been fascinated with the case, and spends most of her time free-diving. Her favorite place to dive is the Well, near where the girls were murdered. And one of her favorite dive partners is East, her boyfriend of several years, best friend for her whole life, and my favorite character. Protect East at all costs, he deserves the world. Unfortunately, he’s only Tru’s dive partner until mysterious new girl, Rio, rolls into town.
Rio and Tru have an instant connection and bond over their interest in the murder case. But when suspicious things start happening in the town again, they wonder if they can find the killer before he or she finds them.
The town in this story is almost its own character, which I really loved. The descriptions are so vivid throughout the story, I felt fully immersed. And also like I needed bug spray. The air is humid and sticky, there’s suspicious small-town politics, embarrassing family members, and viscerally realistic swamps and forests. I don’t know how any of these characters were outside for more than 5 minutes at a time, I read this in January in Montana but wanted to turn on my AC for them vicariously.
I enjoyed the supernatural twist in this being something that was up front and not The Twist of the book. It added an interesting angle but didn’t overpower the mystery for me, and I’ve never read a story that did that. I guessed part of the big reveal but there was enough I didn’t see coming for me to be both surprised and vindicated by my half-right guesses.
I really enjoyed the plot and atmosphere of this, but wanted to connected more with Tru and Rio as characters than I did. Tru’s journey of self-discovery is clearly part of her arc on several levels, but I never really got to the point where I felt like I knew her enough to be fully comfortable in her POV. Also maybe part of the problem was how much I loved East. Maybe if he sucked I’d have shipped the girls more!
Thanks to Penguin Teen for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review!