IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME

4 stars out of 5

After reading three of the author's books, he's become one of those "don't miss" writers who, I hope, keeps churning them out as fast as I can read them. This one really doesn't disappoint, although short chapters that flip from scenario to scenario faster than a ping-pong match don't make it all that easy to follow. It wasn't until close to the halfway point, in fact, when everything started to make sense and "come together" for me; after that, it was far more exciting and engrossing.

The story begins as a young man named Ryan Richardson is out in a remote area with his girlfriend, Alison; he's knocked unconscious and Ali goes missing. Although Ryan provided a loose description of the man who hit him, many locals, including the police, suspect Ryan of abducting, and probably murdering, Ali - but the lack of proof meant he was never charged. That doesn't stop the gossip mill from making his life miserable, though, so he takes off for parts unknown for a new start and with a new name.

On an overseas trip with law school classmates, Ryan sees the man he believes knocked him out and took Ali, who he suspects might still be alive. Meantime, back home in Leavenworth, Kansas, Ali's car (actually her father's) is found at the bottom of a local lake with her purse and two unidentified but clearly murdered men inside. Who are they, who did this to them and what is their connection to Ali's disappearance? That's a question newbie deputy sheriff Poppy McGee is charged with answering, and at the outset, it's clear as mud. Just as confusing is Ali's note that somehow escaped water ruin - one with a mystery message that echoes the book's title.

In the midst of all this action, throw in a dangerous mobster who has some kind of vendetta that's somehow related to people in the small town (that one really took a while to figure out). Once all the dots were connected -and there are quite a few of them - there was enough action to keep me on the edge of my seat right to the end. More than that I can't say without giving away too much, though, so I'll just say thanks to the author for yet another enjoyable book and the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy. 

If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay (Minotaur Books, May 2024); 322 pp.