Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review.
This is a slow, quiet, dark book. Don’t go in expecting anything in your face. It actually took me a bit to become emotionally into, but this turned out to be worth the wait. I just had to get in the right headspace. That said, it does feel like something is lacking for me, that ineffable thing, that would make this a five star read. I’m not sure what it is, I just know that it’s not there.
We have two main characters here, although the author disagrees with me (there is an interview between her and the audio narrator at the end of the audiobook). One is Ava, a precocious and morbid thirteen year old girl living in 1981 Birmingham who is interested in all things biology and science, and who has her own body farm where she collects roadkill and documents the rates of decay and other sciencey stuff (like they do on real body farms). It’s on one of these excursions in the middle of the night that she finds the body of a local boy who has been missing for over two weeks. She calls the body in anonymously, but because of her curiosity, becomes involved in the investigation anyway, developing a really cute bond with the detective working the case, who I think is the second main character. He treats her with respect and sort of allows her leeway to be curious in a way other adults don’t. It’s adorable, in the midst of something really dark.
The mystery itself is fascinating, and I actually managed to call the murderer, totally by accident. I have no idea how I did that, or even what triggered it. The author is extremely good at stuffing the book full of red herrings, so you really have to think about what’s going on, and it’s very engaging. The audio narrator is also excellent, and they made sure to get one who grew up in Birmingham so gets the accents exactly right.
The author is working on a sequel right now where Ava is 17-18 years old, and I will definitley be checking it out.
