When Nico Walker’s older sister mysteriously disappears, her parents, family, and friends are devastated. But Nico can never admit what she feels: relief at finally being free of Sarah’s daily cruelties.
Then the best and worst thing happens: four years later, after dozens of false leads, Sarah is found.
But this girl is much changed from the one Nico knew. She’s thin and drawn, where Sarah had been golden and athletic; timid and unsure instead of brash and competitive; and strangest of all, sweet and kind when she had once been mean and abusive. Sarah’s retrograde amnesia has caused her to forget almost everything about her life, from small things like the plots of her favorite books and her tennis game to the more critical—where she’s been the last four years and what happened at the park on the fateful day she vanished. Despite the happy ending, the dark details of that day continue to haunt Nico, and it becomes clear that more than one person knows the true story of what happened to Sarah.
It took me a while to get on board with this one. The beginning drags a bit, with Nico talking about how heartbroken she and her family were when Sarah disappeared. I thought it was weird how Nico didn’t talk about how abusive Sarah was until later in the story. I think there was a psychological reason for this.
The story is told from Nico and Sarah’s perspectives. About halfway through, Sarah’s chapters started making no sense. I kept thinking, “What is happening here?”
I was not expecting the twists AT ALL! I was completely flabbergasted. It was just WOW! I love it when a story really shocks you.