The Summer She Went Missing

How it reads

The Summer She Went Missing is mystery (young-adult mystery thriller, specifically), and its dominant mood is tense. The suspense is the kind you feel in your shoulders. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in a small town setting, in the present day, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are friendship, secrets and loss and grief. In weight it's light and escapist — easy to fall into.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending resolves happily. At 384 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.