WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING

5 stars out of 5

Sometimes, you just need a little nudge. I've seen this book on best-seller lists for months now, but thinking it fell outside my usual mystery-and-thriller genre, I paid little attention. Then came high words of praise from a friend on Facebook, and I took another look, realized it has elements of mystery and decided to jump in. The verdict? No wonder it's been a top-seller for so long and garnered so many 5-star ratings. Add mine to that list; in fact, if I could give it more stars, I would - I was absolutely blown away.

Taken as a whole, the story does seem a bit implausible: A young girl nicknamed Kya grows up in a remote North Carolina marsh, abandoned first by her mother, then her siblings and finally her father (the latter not a moment too soon). Eventually, she learns that human life exists beyond the walls of her tiny shack, but she's none too thrilled at the prospect of interacting with any of it. Just the agony of growing up alone, the heartbreak of losing your entire family and the eventual realization that they're not coming back, plus the knowledge that her hurt is so deep that she'll never be able to trust anyone were enough to bring tears to my own eyes (more than once). Her story is told so eloquently and engrossingly, in fact, that not once did it even cross my mind that it probably couldn't really happen. 

The "mystery" part comes in at the beginning, when local football hero Chase Andrews, now grown up and married, is found dead under an abandoned outlook tower in the marshland - an apparent accident. But on further investigation, clues emerge that suggest his death might have been murder. And who might be a better suspect than the so-called "marsh girl" - the one who's shunned by everybody in surrounding civilization - and the one who is believed to have been unceremoniously dumped by Chase after spending, euphemistically speaking, quality time with him.

In between all this is the story of Kya's coming of age and, with help from a friend she loves but who, like everyone else around her, she can't trust, becomes a widely respected expert on marsh flora and fauna. It's an emotion-filled adventure packed full of the ups and downs of love, hate, betrayal, resilience and, of course, murder. My own emotions ran right along with Kya's, and it almost seemed that I sucked in a breath at the beginning and didn't let it out till the end (with a huge whoosh, for the record). Also for the record, it haunted my head for days afterward - totally unlike most books I read that I've forgotten the main character's name half an hour after I turn off my Kindle. Mostly, I think, I just wanted to wrap my arms around Kya and assure her everything would be all right - even with the full realization that she could never believe me.

In short, this is a must-read masterpiece. If you haven't grabbed a copy before, do it now. Awesome read!

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (B.P. Putnam's Sons, August 2018 ); 384 pp.