The premise of this book was excellent, but fell short due to a few things. I felt like there was too much about some characters and not enough about others. Bee was insufferable and I learned way too much about her that did not add to the plot.

Sarah Sawyer's debut book, The Undercurrent, is the best book that I've read in 2024, and I've read some good books this year, so that's saying A LOT! Told by multiple characters in two different time lines, this story had me riveted from the very beginning of the book. I started reading it quite quickly, zipping through the pages in an effort to get to the heart of its mystery. However, mid-way through, I recognized that the language and phrasing used by Sawyer is so exquisitely beautiful that I forced myself to slow way down simply because I did not want this book to end! Sawyer is truly gifted with words. The story, itself, is well-crafted and well imagined, such that I was so immersed in reading it that it felt like a gift to myself as an avid reader! Sawyer's writing felt fresh and delightful, even during the telling of, at times, a difficult story. I finished the book, and I immediately wanted to start reading it again. In short, reading this book was one of the best experiences I have ever had as a reader, and I hope we see more from Sawyer very soon because she is supremely talented.

What kept me turning the pages was not the mystery of what happened to the missing girl, but the tension-filled interactions among all these deliciously complicated characters.

Our entire staff loved The Undercurrent. Sawyer has written a smart and timely mystery that is well-paced and unforgettable. I was intrigued by every character and plagued by a vague sense of dread (this is a good thing) until the last page.

This was such an impressive debut! I was blown away by how in depth it was, how much it intrigued me and how it was so well written!!

Quite an impressive debut! This is a slow burn mystery filled with deeply complex characters. It explores motherhood, childhood memories, family secrets, and circles around the idea of what we think we know to be true. This is really well done and was a compelling read. Thank you NetGalley a publisher for providing a digital ARC for review

This one is told from multiple POVs with two different timelines. Bee is a new mother who finds herself wrapped up in the cold case of a missing girl from her hometown when she was a teenager herself.

I had a little bit of a tough time following the story and what was happening in this book, and I think that was due to the multiple POVs, but others may not have a difficult time with that.

The book was a slow burn that slowly reveals what happened back when Bee was a teenager. There were a lot of moving pieces to the story and I am not sure that all of them were necessary.

Overall, I thought it was a fine read and good for people who enjoy slow burning mysteries.

A captivating read from beginning to end. The book is set in 2011, following new mom Bee in Portland, Maine, and Bee's Texas hometown in 1987—a pivotal summer in which a neighborhood girl goes missing, her father dies in a car crash and her twin brother Gus and his BFF/neighbor Leo are increasingly withdrawn. In the present, Bee is drawn back to her hometown after a run-in with Leo reveals Gus, who has struggled with a addiction in the decades since and with whom she is estranged, wants to see her. The present storyline moves quickly, taking place over several days, but the incorporation of the 1987 events, which adds perspectives from Bee and Gus' mom as well as Leo's mom—who live opposite one another in the neighborhood—provides a level of depth that works really well. The story seems like it's about a missing person case—and in some ways it is—but it is really about the hidden tragedies these neighbors endure and the anguish that, yes, permeates through.

This debut novel from Sarah Sawyer (thanks @zibbybooks for my early copy!) is full of mystery, intrigue, dual timelines, and life as a mother are all woven into a storyline that keeps you wondering what the truth is, and what the hidden secrets are.

In the dual timelines we see Bee, a new mom who is shocked by the arrival of her twin brother, Gus’s best friend, Leo- who has news of her brother. Then we see Mary from 1991, feeling much like Bee in her trapped existence, who also happens to be Bee and Gus’s mother. Mary then seeks Diana’s help throughout the course of the novel as secrets are revealed.

I was super surprised that this was a debut novel (I seriously checked my notes several times). Sawyer is a great weaver of stories that hold and grip us.

The Undercurrent is a slow burn, which works for this small town mystery. We get to spend time with the characters, get to know them, feel immersed in both the 1987 & 2011 timelines. Themes of friendships and motherhood are deftly explored as well as the frailties of the human condition. Thank you NetGalley and Zibby books for the opportunity to read this wonderful eArc. 3.5/5 ⭐️.

Oh, mothering. This book was heartbreaking in many ways. The language in The Undercurrent is beautiful and while the ending felt unsatisfying (to me), there were parts I loved and will continue to think about, especially this quote "you can never be half-good, half-paying attention, when you are a mother. The world threatens." Thank you to the author, Zibby Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and share my thoughts.

This is probably one of the best books I read this year. If you like character-driven plots, a good mystery, and a small-town feel, this book is for you. I would recommend it to anyone who loved "Where the Crawdad's Sing" by Delia Owens or "The Little Freind" by Donna Tartt.

Bee is a new mom. Her brother, her twin Gus, has not spoken to her for almost a decade. Then, out of the blue, her brother's best friend (and her childhood crush) shows up and begs her to go back home. When Bee was a child a girl she went to school with went missing. Fueled by a desire to solve this mystery and aching to find her brother, Bee returns home to uncover some secrets.

This is a haunting tale, a gorgeous tale, fast-paced and invigorating.

The Undercurrent by Sarah Sawyer is a haunting story of motherhood and mystery. Bee, a new mother overwhelmed by postpartum depression, finds her world thrown into chaos when her childhood crush, Leo, brings her face to face with unresolved trauma. Drawn back to her Texas hometown, Bee becomes obsessed with the decades old disappearance of Deecie Jeffries, a mystery she had long left behind but now can’t escape. The story unfolds across two timelines, delving into the lives of Bee’s family and neighbors, and gradually exposing secrets and fractured bonds that shaped them. Bee’s journey is as much about discovering her family’s buried truths as it is about facing her own struggles with identity. Through shifting perspectives and beautiful storytelling, this book will keep you hooked!

Wow.

Layered with so many velvety bands of literary texture and nuance, this is an absorbing, mesmerizing, haunting read, leading the reader deep into the hidden lives of two families, — the stories untold, the fears blindly enacted, the words not spoken but festering, for years, and even decades, stultifying all characters held in their clogging masses.

"How can there be so little to say aloud when there is a torrent of words gushing beneath the surface?"

Alternating between two timelines, this is the tale of 1987’s fifteen-year-old Bee (Beatrice) Rowan, her twin brother Gus, and her mother Mary Rowan, living in Austin,Texas. In the same timeline, we enter the world of Leo Nastasi, Gus’s best friend, and his mother Diana, an almost-tenured professor.

Although the two families exist across the street from each other, aside from the relationship between Gus and Leo, they are not at all close. Until the terrible happens — a thirteen-year-old girl, last seen in the field that abuts both houses, disappears, — and the terrifying emotional crises that follows overwhelms them all.

Decades later, the timeline is now 2011, and Bee, married with a new baby, estranged from both her brother Gus and his friend Leo, is struggling. Try as she might, Bee is emotionally disconnected, unreachable — the fallout from decades-old questions and fears rendering intimacy impossible.

As the author slowly and deftly unveils worlds, exquisitely fragile in the tentativeness of their telling, we the reader struggle to put the pieces together. Bordered on all sides by heart-stopping love (mother, sister, lover, friend), ravaged by the wildness of grief, longings and imaginings, and of course, built on secrets, — when all is revealed (no spoilers here) the revelations will be seen to be as tragic as they are illuminating.

A beautifully written, deeply stirring, magnificent read (not to be missed in the opinion of this reader), this is definitely one of 2024’s best.

A great big thank you to #Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

This novel set in two time periods - 1987 and 2011. The prologue shows us 13 year old girl Deecie, who goes missing in the summer of 1987. The book then jumps to 2011, when Bee is a new mother who hasn’t seen either her twin brother Gus or their friend and her teenage crush Leo, in many years for reasons we don’t know. But when Leo returns and tells her Gus wants to see her, it stirs up old feelings, and an interest in the unsolved disappearance of Deecie, who lived in their neighborhood, all those years ago. The 1987 chapters, meanwhile, are told from the perspective of Mary (Bee and Gus’s mom) and Diana (Leo’s mom).

I’m usually more tolerant of slow mysteries more than most people, but this one was a little too slow even for me. I think it might have been better if I had approached it as a literary novel rather than a mystery, because the mystery really didn’t even get going until the back half of the book. And honestly I was still confused about some things when the book ended. The writing was interesting though, and the end of the book was really good. I may not have loved this one, but I’d still try Sarah Sawyer’s next book since this was a debut novel.

3.5 stars

“𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵.“

Thank you Zibby Books Publishing and Netgalley for this advanced readers copy.

Do you ever read a book and realize by the end that you’re probably not the best audience for it?

Let me start off by saying that both Gillian Flynn and Chris Whitaker have high praise for this one. Also, I still am struggling with post-concussive syndrome, so reading is a challenge, be it an ebook or physical, making it likely I missed things or just didn’t process it correctly. However, upon reading other reviews, it seems like I’m not the only one with feeling lost by a haze or overdone descriptions.

We are given primarily three POVs: Bee, her mother Mary, and their neighbor Diana. It has very strong themes of motherhood, family, loss, belonging, loyalty, achievement, obsession…

The first theme is often a disconnect for me, especially when it’s so heavily woven into the story (I’m a single, childless 31-year old) so at times I struggled getting through these parts only because I truly cannot identify with it. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just not my experience or present circumstance so it makes it harder for me personally to relate, though I’m sick of reading about one character’s leaky breasts (it was like every POV for her it’s mentioned at least twice).

It’s a slow burn and around halfway I began seeing the layers being pulled back; the mysteries coming forth. At that point I had been liking it but then I got lost with how things unfolded, like I was missing something/s that made it all make sense. That further added to my disconnect as I just didn’t see how the puzzle came together. Content includes a missing child, miscarriage, and brief mentions of infidelity, masturbation, and an active shooter situation.

Overall, the writing is lovely but it felt like it wasn’t fully formed while overelaborated at times, if you get what I mean. And for those of us who aren’t mothers, we might not relate as well as those who are. Again, that’s not a bad thing, and I’m certainly not saying don’t read this; just know there’s a possibility of that disconnect. A curious and intriguing premise but ultimately I don’t think I’m the right person to give you the best opinion on it.

This is a debut novel about a girl gone missing. To me this book could have been so good. It had so much promise. But the author overdid some things. The descriptions were overdone.

There could have been more about the girl who actually went missing. More than what I read at the ending.

It seemed to be more about Bee and her leaking breasts than anything. Yes it happens but in this case it was just used to fill space I believe. Also the parts of her and Leo. What was the point. Yes she had a crush when she was a kid but she was grown, married, with a newborn baby. Not even married that long. To think about Leo that way was in my opinion just too much.

Then the part about her twin brother. She hasn't seen or heard from her twin in seventeen years. I hardly believe that. They were twins. Even with his problems they would have at least talked over the years. With what happened to him there should have been more about what it did to him and maybe then I could have believed he would leave and never talk to his sister again. He talked to his best friend and his mother. But not his twin. I'm not sold on that.

Then the loss of a baby. That was a bit much too. Not the loss but that Bee actually named her baby after one that did not survive. One her mother lost. I just didn't like that part. It could just be me but it just didn't seem to fit. Especially since Bee was not that close to her mother.

This story is told from two timelines, 1987 and 2011. It is told from three perspectives, Bee in 2011. Her mother, Mary, in 1987. And Leo's mother, Diane, in 1987. I was not impressed by either mother. Not even Bee. Bee in my opinion was not a good mother or wife. I actually didn't like any of the characters. None made me feel anything other than anger. No tears or laughter. Just the anger.

Thank you #NetGalley, #ZibbyBooks, for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

2.5 stars increased to 3.

This quiet debut novel is infused with heart-gripping and heart-rending characters. And, though it is billed as a mystery and even a mystery thriller, Sarah Sawyer’s insights into motherhood and friendships are what drive the novel.

Moving between two timelines—2011 and 1987—and told from multiple viewpoints, the story is set in Texas and Maine. When a thirteen-year-old girl goes missing from an Austin neighborhood, everyone is affected. Soon, secrets and lies lead to a tangle of emotions and fears, assumptions and choices. Readers have to concentrate on piecing together what the truth is, but the undercurrent carries you along.

It’s a family drama that’s well-written and original. I look forward to reading more from this author. Thank you to Zibby Books and NetGalley for the advance reader copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and Zibby Books for this copy of "The Undercurrent."

What an amazing debut! It was haunting, "crawling with unease," and evoked so many emotions. While reading, I kept feeling like this was a long lit fuse that was leading to a big explosion.

It's the story of two families and the secrets they keep. Twins Bee and Gus and their friend Leo were inseparable as children. But when they're 15, a girl from their school is reported missing around the same time that Gus and Leo start to exclude Bee.

Then 20 years later, the missing girl's backpack is found. And Bee gets a text from Leo....

The story is very effectively told in dual timelines and from different characters' perspectives. But it's the insights of the families' mothers, Mary and Diana, that are so heart-rending and important to unraveling the mystery.

The perfect book for mystery lovers during this moody fall season! A young girl vanished years ago and the mystery of her disappearance has never been solved. Now, Bee, a woman with a connection to this crime, decides it is time to unearth the truth about what actually happened and she decides to revisit the past.

The story is a slow burn but steady and maintains a good deal of suspense throughout. I enjoyed the ride and the final conclusion. It is worth mentioning that this book received impressive blurbs by both Gillian Flynn and Chris Whitaker who both called it, “stunning”. Very impressive praise for a debut author!!