This one surprised me -- I definitely wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. But from the very first page of Janelle Brown's Watch Me Disappear, I was sucked in wanting to know what really happened to Billie Flanagan. And it didn't go in the direction I thought it was heading, which is why I think I enjoyed it so much.Billie Flanagan has disappeared into thin air. One day, she tells Jonathan (her husband) and Olive (her daughter) that she's going on a solo hike, and they never hear from her again. A year passes with them thinking something terrible has happened to her and that she is never coming home. But then Olive starts having visions of her mother alive, while Jonathan finds out things about Billie's past that are disturbing. The story races to its conclusion, with an epilogue that answers all the many questions readers are sure to have.
Yes, Billie is a main character, but she's written almost entirely in flashback. In Brown's capable hands, we get to know her through the eyes of others, and because of that, we're not entirely sure who exactly can be trusted. To me, that's the best kind of book.
MY RATING - 4
