THIS SIDE OF GONE

A Maryland teenager’s disappearance coaxes a retired cop back into the chase.

Vinnie Taylor has good reason to choose an isolated cabin in the woods outside of tiny Wills Harbor as her retreat after testifying against her corrupt fellow officers back in Indianapolis. Her former colleagues’ threats of violence have proved all too real. But a conversation she overhears in Henk’s general store between high schoolers Hannah Candlewood and Tyler Purnell puts her on notice that danger can lurk even in a small town. When she gets home, Vinnie finds a note from Hannah scribbled on her receipt accusing Tyler of killing their classmate Avery Adair, who disappeared weeks ago. The local police have written Avery off as a runaway. But Vinnie’s big-city-cop instincts tell her that if Avery is still alive, she’s in grave danger. Little by little, she gets drawn into an investigation she has no legal right to conduct. Mitchell’s writing is crisp and sharp. Her lively dialogue brings her characters to life, warts and all. But her loose plotting can leave readers feeling lost. Is Vinnie ever going to pick up that stray cat she left at the vet chapters ago? What about that drug deal Avery was about to do with her cousin Red? Will the suspects she interrogates realize that she has no official standing? Wait…what?

That missing teenager seems not to be the only thing lost in the woods.