This story was one of the emotionally captivating books that I have read in awhile. What starts out as a sad sob-story of a girl who lost her boyfriend in a car crash ends in a terrible search for answers that might not turn out as expected. We learn further in the story that the two main characters had broken up before he had ever “died” in the car accident.
What was never revealed is the reason why Caleb never decided to tell his mom that they had broken up. All he says is that he was going to see her, which he does many times before. The only difference is when he goes this time, somehow, he gets into a wreck that leaves everyone surprised. However, this wreck didn’t make any since. There was no way that he had wrecked into this river, it had only been raining, and the guard rail was only slightly broken. Even if he did fall off into the river, his body was never found by the police. This instance was odd to me because normally with police they have to find the body before it is ever considered a death.
In the beginning, it is also weird that they don’t really have much of a relationship. Sure, they always tend to be around each other, but they fought often. There was always something off about Caleb, especially when they went on their little trip. He acted as if it was for them to spend time together, but when the mystery man is revealed, we see that he was meeting with his father the whole time. There was also a slight romance between Caleb’s best friend and the girlfriend. It is revealed about halfway through that Caleb actually knows about this romance, but doesn’t say anything but “I know”. If he actually loved her, it would have been more of a big deal.
His mom was extra weird during the book. She wanted his girlfriend, the main character, to come and take care of all of Caleb’s belongings. During this time she somehow always pops in at random moments to be sure that she is taking care of the job and not goofing around. At first the reader must assume that it is simply because she blames her for her sons death, however, we later assume that she must think that the girlfriend/ex-girlfriend must know something. She places a tracker on the girlfriend’s phone, keeps track of every place that she goes, and even spies on her phone calls. This foreshadows the events that leads up to finding Caleb. What mother would follow an ex so closely, if she didn’t know that her son wasn’t actually dead?
The author uses so many different mystery details to account for Caleb’s disappearance. Throughout her entire time of cleaning up the room, she finds different things that show that Caleb may not be dead. In the end she finds a mysterious compartment that shows that Caleb had actually been in the house recently, and was covering up his tracks.
This story had a genius way of foreshadowing events. The author added so many details that was somewhat up to the reader to understand. If I was to read it again, I’m sure I would find more detail that I didn’t before.
