“The Undercurrent”, debut novel by Sarah Sawyer, is a steadily burning and twisty mystery revolving around the connections between a missing girl named Deecie, in Austin, Texas in 1987, and a frazzled new mother, Bee, in Portland, Maine in 2011.
Told from various perspectives in each timeline, the reader gradually assembles the information needed to form the whole picture.
When thirteen-year-old Deecie disappears in 1987, Bee and her twin brother, Gus are fifteen. Their childhood friend and neighbor, Leo, is also fifteen; he lives across the street with his UT professor mother, Diana.
Gus and Leo are best friends, both troubled in different ways, they seek each other out for friendship and understanding and push Bee away, ostensibly to protect her.
Bee and Gus’ mother, Mary, and Leo’s mother, Diana both know that the boys were in the field across from their neighborhood the night Deecie disappeared. Each mother makes assumptions that drive them to make irrevocable and secret decisions. They each think they are protecting their own.
Themes or motherhood, family secrets, and sacrifice run throughout. What lengths would a mother go to protect her child?
Thank you to Zibby Books, for an ARC of this debut novel. I am so happy to have discovered your women-led start up and will gleefully follow your endeavors and podcast!