WHERE I LEFT HER by Amber Garza
MIRA; 8/24/21
CBTB Rating: 3.75/5
The Verdict: a dramatic and entertaining “popcorn thriller”
Amber Garza’s 2020 psychological suspense novel WHEN I WAS YOU was an instant-hit for me last summer, so when I saw Garza was releasing another thriller this summer, I knew it belonged on my TBR—and I’m so glad I made time for it! Garza’s 2021 thriller WHERE I LEFT HER is a juicy, page-turning work of domestic suspense that takes readers into the heart of a mother’s worst nightmare. In WHERE I LEFT HER, a woman drops her daughter off at a friend’s house for a sleepover, and returns the next day to discover that her daughter has gone missing. With her knack for gripping pacing and dramatic interpersonal relationships, Garza spins an engaging “popcorn read” from this sinister premise. While the book’s finale does veer a bit into the realm of the unrealistic, WHERE I LEFT HER is nevertheless a highly entertaining suspense novel well-suited to readers hoping to sink their teeth into a “popcorn thriller” as the summer draws to a close.
Plot Details:
Whitney had some misgivings when she dropped her increasingly moody teenage daughter, Amelia, off at Lauren’s house. She’d never met the parents, and usually she’d go in, but Amelia clearly wasn’t going to let something so humiliating happen, so instead Whitney waved to her daughter before pulling away from the little house with the roses in front.
But when she goes back the next day, an elderly couple answers the door—Amelia and Lauren aren’t there, and this couple swears they never were, that she’s at the wrong house. As Whitney searches for Amelia, she uncovers a trail of lies her daughter has told her—from the Finsta account to rumors of a secret relationship. Does she really even know this girl she’s raised? And Amelia’s not the only one with secrets. Could Whitney’s own demons have something to do with her daughter’s disappearance, and can Whitney find her before it’s too late?
There’s a special place in my heart for the category of suspense novel I like to call “popcorn thrillers” or “popcorn reads”—those easy-to-devour stories that are jam-packed with entertainment value, and lighter in subject matter. If that sounds like the kind of read you’re in the market for right now, Amber Garza’s WHERE I LEFT HER is sure to satisfy all your “popcorn read” cravings. This twisty suspense novel begins with a premise that is sinister for its relatability. Single mother Whitney has been struggling to navigate her increasingly tempestuous relationship with her teenage daughter, Amelia. So when Amelia asks if she can sleep over at her new friend Lauren’s house, Whitney agrees. And when Amelia asks Whitney not to come inside Lauren’s house to meet her parents, Whitney again acquiesces; after all, she doesn’t want to rock the boat with her daughter any more than is necessary. The next day, Whitney returns to the house to pick Amelia up… and the unthinkable happens. An elderly couple Whitney has never seen before answers the door, and denies having ever seen Amelia or Lauren the night before. Could Whitney have gone to the wrong house? Whitney’s certain she has the correct address, but that can only mean one thing. Her daughter Amelia is missing, and Whitney has no idea where she might have gone. In this twisty and highly entertaining suspense novel, Amber Garza draws readers into Amelia’s secret life alongside her mother, unpacking her secrets in order to figure out where she’s gone, and what might have happened to her.
Amber Garza’s WHERE I LEFT HER is nothing if not page-turning and engaging—I devoured this book in about two sittings, and if light psychological suspense is your cup of tea, I’m betting you will, too. Garza expertly ratchets up the tension in her newest domestic suspense novel through an ever-more-twisty deep-dive into her characters’ lives. At the heart of this book is the very same question that preoccupies so many domestic thrillers: how well do we really know our loved ones? In WHERE I LEFT HER, Garza applies this question not to a romantic relationship, but rather to the relationship between a mother and daughter. When her daughter disappears from a sleepover, protagonist Whitney’s greatest fears are realized. Suddenly, the not-so-subtle tensions and fault lines in her relationship with her beloved daughter take on a far more sinister tone. How much does Whitney really know about Amelia’s personal life? What secrets could Amelia be hiding? As Whitney desperately digs into her own daughter’s secrets, she uncovers everything from mysterious possible-boyfriends to fake Instagram accounts and lots more. And worse yet, she begins to wonder if Amelia’s disappearance in the present day could have ties to a dark secret from her own past. Garza expertly mines the fears and anxieties of parenthood in WHERE I LEFT HER, drawing readers ever deeper into the darkest corners of an unbreakable bond between mother and child. WHERE I LEFT HER isn’t an action-packed thriller, but rather a suspense novel that chills with the plausibility of its central mystery. After all, it’s very possible that a parent might not know everything about their child… and that some of their child’s secrets might be dangerous. Garza crafts her characters with authenticity, and readers will find themselves invested in the lives of these relatable characters.
If the plausibility of WHERE I LEFT HER—its down-to-earth exploration of the parent-child relationship, and the many secrets that both parents and children can hide from one another—is the emotional fuel for this story, Garza’s clever plotting is the engine that drives it forward. Garza anchors her story around the fateful day when Whitney drops Amelia off for her sleepover. Readers move between a timeline set in the days leading up to drop-off and a timeline set in the present day, following the drop-off and Whitney’s discovery of Amelia’s disappearance. Interspersed throughout are increasingly-sinister chapters narrated by an anonymous voice who seems connected somehow to our story’s central mystery. Garza has a real knack for developing page-turning plotting, and it shines through in the effortless way she weaves between these multiple timelines and points of view. The reading experience is effortless and swift, with Garza knowing just when to drop tantalizing new bread crumbs of information to keep readers turning the pages.
If there was one piece of this book that didn’t quite work as well for me as I had hoped, it would be the book’s finale. One of the key elements I loved about so much of this story was its relatability and plausibility; the little details that made this story come to life for me most of all were those that made Whitney and Amelia feel like a real, relatable, down-to-earth mother-daughter duo. No spoilers, of course, but the finale of WHERE I LEFT HER pushes the story in a much more cinematic and dramatic direction, one which didn’t quite align with the relatable tone that I enjoyed so much in the majority of the novel. This may be simply a matter of personal preference; after all, “popcorn thrillers” are nothing without an ability to pack a punch in the entertainment-value department, and Garza’s WHERE I LEFT HER certainly delivers on that front. Unfortunately for me, the book’s finale felt like a bit of a hard pivot—an over-the-top conclusion to a story that I had previously been enjoying specifically because of just how plausible it felt. Any qualms I had with this book’s finale were far from disastrous, though; I still thoroughly enjoyed WHERE I LEFT HER, and I expect that readers who love lighter suspense with a flair for the dramatic may love it even more than I did. So would I recommend WHERE I LEFT HER? Yes, I would, particularly for those looking for page-turning domestic suspense and “popcorn reads” to close out their summer reading list.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. All opinions my own.
Book Details:
Publisher : MIRA; Original edition (August 24, 2021)
Language : English
Paperback : 304 pages
ISBN-10 : 0778332063
ISBN-13 : 978-0778332060
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