If he writes it, I will come. That's my conclusion after reading three books by this talented author. This one, my third, held my attention from start to finish - just as the other two did.This story centers around a missing girl named Sadie Saunders; her five friends - and for that matter, the entire town - are convinced that she's been murdered, but no body has been found. Most folks think they know who did it as well, but the friends - one Sadie's boyfriend and another her brother - reluctantly decide to form a search party to comb the woods near the river where her backpack was found.
The beginning actually starts closer to the end as Detective Inspector Robin Fleet and his partner, Nicola Collins, are called in when the young people call in a rather gruesome story. From there, most of the chapters detail police interviews with each of the five friends, thus gradually revealing what really happened and why. The more they talk, the more complicated the story gets - until the end, when the truth finally emerges (with a not totally unexpected twist).
Fleet is a very interesting character with issues of his own, and I wish he'd been more of a player here (hopefully, he'll be back - maybe as part of a series, hint, hint). The teenagers were interesting as well, although it seemed to me they possessed mental processing and verbal abilities far beyond their years. And as I bounced back and forth among their interviews, I couldn't help but feel as if I was in the middle of a game of Clue (was it Mason in the tree with a bottle? Cora in the river with a rock)? After all is said and done, though, I really enjoyed the book. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read a pre-publication copy.
The Search Party by Simon Lelic (Berkley, August 2020); 352 pp.
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