Thank you The Dial Press #partner, for the advanced copy of Knife River in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: The Dial Press
Published: May 28, 2024
Summary:
Who do you believe when you can’t even trust yourself? A troubled young woman reunites with her sister in their hometown to uncover the truth about their mother’s disappearance in this compelling family drama and literary suspense debut.
“Knife River is a delicious smoke curl of a novel: atmospheric, sharp, and skilled at twisting the reader’s guesses in unimaginable ways.”—Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author
When Jess was thirteen, her mother went for a walk and never returned. Jess and her older sister, Liz, never found out what happened. Instead, they did what they hoped their mother would do: survive. As soon as she was old enough, Jess fled their small town of Knife River, wandering from girlfriend to girlfriend like a ghost in her own life, aimless in her attempts to outrun grief and confusion. But one morning, fifteen years later, she gets the call she’s been bracing for: Her mother’s remains have been found.
Jess returns to find Knife River—and her sister—frozen in time. The town is as claustrophobic and timeworn as ever. Liz still lives in their childhood home and has become obsessed with unsolved missing persons cases. Jess plans to stay only until they get some answers, but their mother’s bones, exposed to the elements for so long, just leave them with more questions. As Jess gets caught up in the case and falls back into an entanglement with her high school girlfriend, her understanding of the past, Liz, her mother, and herself become more complicated—and the list of suspects more ominous.
Knife River is a tense, intimate, and heartrending portrayal of how deeply and imperfectly women love one another: in romantic relationships, in intergenerational friendships, and especially as sisters.
My thoughts:
This is the type of book I absolutely love to read and I’m so glad I not only had the chance to read it, but also participate in an online book discussion for it. It’s one of those books that stays with you long after you finish reading…it’s haunting and heart-wrenching all at once and for a debut novel, that’s pretty impressive.
This is an atmospheric slow-burn mystery that is also a complex family saga of sorts. I love stories about sisters and we see how these two sisters, Jess and Liz, have grown since the disappearance of their mother fifteen years ago. The strength in this story lies in just how well these characters are developed. We not only see the sisters as they are now, but get glimpses of them from the past, including the day of their mom’s disappearance.
While there is a mystery with the bones of the mother finally being found, at the heart of the book this really is a character study and it is so beautifully done.
I cannot recommend this one enough. I haven’t stopped thinking about it and will be quite eager to see what this talented author writes next!
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