Did Hunter Gifford kill his girlfriend? Everyone in town thinks he did. With his best friend making a docuseries condemning him and the police closing in, Hunter will have to uncover the mystery himself before he ends up behind bars.
While still recovering from the death of his mother, Hunter Gifford and his girlfriend, Chloe Summers, get into a single-car accident on a remote country road after leaving Homecoming. Hunter wakes in the hospital but has no memory of how he got there—or the accident. He's horrified to learn that Chloe has disappeared from the scene of the crash, leaving behind her purse, shoes, and phone.
When Hunter returns to school, his friends aren't sure how to treat him. And at a candlelight vigil, Chloe's mother stands in front of the entire town and accuses him of killing Chloe. To make matters worse, Hunter's former best friend, Daniel, is an aspiring filmmaker who sees Chloe's disappearance as a golden opportunity to make a true-crime documentary about the case—one that points the finger directly at Hunter.
In order to clear his name and, more importantly, try to figure out what happened to Chloe, Hunter takes matters into his own hands. But the deeper Hunter's search goes, the more treacherous it becomes, putting his freedom, his family, and even his life, in danger.
Format
Page Count
Trim Size
Dewey
AR
Genre
Scholastic Reading Counts
JLG Release
Book Genres
Topics
Standard MARC Records
Cover Art
School Library Journal
Gr 9 Up-Despite his best efforts, Hunter cannot remember the events of Homecoming night-how he ended up in the hospital, why he and Chloe left the dance early, or even where she is now. Missing memories don't change an essential truth, though: Chloe is gone, and no one knows what happened to her. As the last person to see her, all eyes are on Hunter and fingers are quick to point. It's always the boyfriend, right? As Hunter sets out to restore his memories of what happened, readers get to know him better and find a likable enough lead in a well-meaning, vanilla sort of way. Other characters check off the other obligatory boxes: protective best friend, quirky sister, socially distant father. Despite several bland characters, the book is a page-turner with short chapters and a simple writing style, propelling readers on at a rapid clip. Large swaths of the central mystery are predictable by anyone familiar with the genre, but layers to the plot twists still provide surprises. There is diversity in terms of race and sexual orientation among the cast, though some awkward dialogue is given to the characters of color. VERDICT A solid if not spectacular mystery, this is a worthwhile read for students in need of their next plot-twist fix, but also one that will fade from memory almost as soon as it is over.-Nate Hipple?(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.