by Jodi Picoult
First published 2014
Jenna Metcalf has spent over ten years obsessing over her mother's disappearance. Alice Metcalf, a scientist who studied elephant grief, vanished after a tragic accident at her research facility. Jenna refuses to accept that her mother abandoned her. She scours Alice's research journals for clues and searches online constantly for any trace of her. Desperate for answers, Jenna recruits two damaged allies. Serenity Jones once made her reputation finding missing people through psychic visions, but now doubts her own abilities. Virgil Stanhope is the cynical private detective who botched the original investigation into Alice's case and the suspicious death of her colleague. Together, this unlikely trio digs into the past. As they uncover buried secrets, Jenna's childhood memories begin to align with the events recorded in her mother's scientific notebooks. The investigation forces all three to confront painful truths about loss, abandonment, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.
Genres: mystery, contemporary, psychological-thriller, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Research Facility
Period: Present Day
398 pages · Hardcover · Ballantine Books
Content warnings: mental-illness