How well can we truly know the people we love, especially when they are suddenly stripped away? This question haunts every page of Angie Kim’s latest novel, a story that begins not with a body, but with a baffling absence in a quiet Virginia town. It’s a mystery that feels dangerously intimate, inviting you to look closer at the fractures hidden within a seemingly perfect family, wondering what secrets might be lurking just beneath the surface. The atmosphere is thick with humidity and anxiety as the narrative unfolds through the eyes of a sharp, observant daughter searching for answers. You can practically feel the oppressive heat of the summer day when her father vanishes, leaving behind her non-speaking younger brother and a trail of troubling clues. The mood is tense and urgent, yet there is a surprising tenderness in the way the story explores the limitations of language and the weight of unspoken love within a mixed-race household. What makes this book unputdownable is how it seamlessly weaves a gripping psychological puzzle with a profound meditation on happiness and neurodiversity. It challenges you to reconsider the nature of truth and the stories we tell ourselves to survive. By the time you turn the final page, you’ll feel as though you’ve lived through the investigation, breathless and deeply moved by the resilience of the human spirit.