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After the Eclipse

by Fran DORRICOTT
448p. Titan. Mar. 2019. pap. $14.95. ISBN 9781785657887.
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In August 1999, 11-year-old Olive goes missing from the town of Bishop's Green during a solar eclipse while her big sister Cassie is supposed to be watching her. Guilt ridden, Cassie becomes an investigative journalist to make up for her mistake. In 2015, having returned to Bishop's Green to care for her ailing grandmother, Cassie dreads the upcoming solar eclipse. Then an 11-year-old girl goes missing, followed by another one, and Cassie is determined to solve the mystery and bring them home safely. Flipping between Cassie's point of view in 2015 and Olive's in 1999, the mystery unfolds slowly, bogged down by Cassie's inner torment and destructive coping mechanisms. Cassie doubts her instincts, has panic attacks, and obsesses over the seeming connection between these missing girls and her little sister's disappearance. There are multiple suspects and false leads. The narrative comes to a dramatic if predictable conclusion, and the big reveal is less than cathartic. While the premise is disturbing, the book is never graphic or sensational.
VERDICT A solid purchase for libraries with mature mystery fans.
Reviewed by Kristen Rademacher, Marist High School, Chicago , May 01, 2019

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