Young Adult Book Reviews

Genre: Mystery

Esme is visiting her older sister, along with her parents, all the way from England. Her sister is taking a gap year and is currently working at a ski resort. On the night before Esme is supposed to leave, her sister, Gaia, disappears and no one has any idea where she might have gone. Obviously, Esme’s family stays to look for her and it quickly becomes quite a group effort as searches are organized all over the snowy mountains. Esme has a condition called dyspraxia, which means she has trouble keeping track of details such as how much time has passed and when she last saw her sister. As Esme and another resort worker, Bode, try to retrace her sister’s footsteps, she quickly realizes that her sister was not telling her family everything about her life in the U.S. The other resort workers all seem to be hiding something as well. Is it possible they know where Gaia is? Could Gaia have run away? Esme and her parents are determined not to leave until they know what happened to Gaia.

This mystery is engaging from the beginning, but does set itself apart due to the fact that the main character has dyspraxia which does hinder her ability to help in the investigation. Slowly, information comes out about Gaia’s relationship with the family and how her being in another country all of this time has greatly challenged those relationships. The way all of her friends handle the disappearance really shows how much technology has changed reality in both how they try to find clues for finding Gaia to actually trying to use her disappearance to bring more attention to themselves and possibly elevate their online presence personally. It is unclear exactly why no one really thinks Esme could be helpful in locating her sister, but in many ways it works in her favor as she is able to do her own thing and investigate in ways that the adults around her might not approve of. Recommended for mystery lovers.