Friday, October 28, 2022

She’s Gone by David Bell - OPTIONAL

She’s Gone by David Bell, 360 pages. Sourcebooks Fire, 2022. $11.

Language: R (118 swears, 22 “f”); Mature Content: PG13: Violence: PG13

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Hunter (17yo) and Chloe went to the Homecoming dance together, of course. But Chloe hasn’t been seen since. With Chloe’s car crashed into a tree and Hunter’s memory missing due to a concussion, the questions on everyone’s mind are where is Chloe, and is Hunter the one who made her disappear?

I enjoyed the mystery, though there were a few points in the story where I thought something was suspicious before Hunter did. The explanation of everything in the end was mostly satisfactory, and Hunter’s final thoughts to close the book gave it a better ending than the close to the mystery itself. Overall, it was a bit dramatic, but the mystery is solvable for the reader, which makes it more interesting to read.

Hunter and his family and Chloe and her family are implied white. Gabriela is Mexican, and Detective Haley is Black. The mature content rating is for mentions of drugs, alcohol, masturbation, and sexual harassment, as well as for discussions of sex and condoms. The violence rating is for gun use and murder.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

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