The Disappearance of Rachel Sterling

by Simone Paradis Hanson

Some friendships never end. No matter what.Rachel is the rich girl from Cape Elizabeth who spends a week every summer at a fishing camp in the Maine woods with her father. Tammy works at the camp, helping her parents to keep it running. Their livelihood depends on the wealthy strangers who fish and hunt on their land.Year after year, under a canopy of dark green pine and white stars, the two girls build a fragile friendship.Until it ends, with no goodbye. No explanation. The two women meet again, twenty years later.Rachel is a wife and mother, struggling to cope with the aftermath of her husband’s stroke and her children’s transition to adulthood. Then on night, she she simply disappears. Tammy has spent much of her life alone, finding solace in her inner world. Loneliness is a void, and an unexpected encounter with Rachel all these years later is a chance to fill it. As Tammy struggles to discern what is real from what is fantasy, she decides to reconnect. Her carefully planned kidnapping goes off without a hitch.Without a wife, without a mother, Rachel’s family struggles to come to terms with her disappearance. If she left them, which one of them drove her away? If she was taken, where is she? Maine winters are deadly. The defunct fishing camp becomes a prison that Rachel cannot escape. Tammy is happy to have her friend back, even as she gradually realizes the enormity of what she has done. With ice cracking outside, there is little to do but talk as they hover near the constantly burning fire. Buried memories are no longer dormant and secrets will no longer remain beneath the surface.Simone Paradis Hanson is the author of Leave a Crooked Path. (Finalist for the Black Lawrence Press Big Moose Prize; Finalist for the Aqueous Books Flann O’Brien Award for Innovative Fiction; and a Kirkus Indie Editors’ pick, 2017)She is a Maine native who currently lives in the metro-Atlanta area.

319 pages, Paperback

Published November 26, 2018

Reviews

[Ashley Owens]

The premise of a woman being kidnapped by another woman made me want to read this book. I wondered, how does this happen, and why?

The author does a great job bringing dimension to all the seemingly innocent characters as the book develops. The Sterlings were almost 2-dimensional at first, until you begin to learn about their history and their reactions in a time of crisis. Before you know it, you have a cast of characters full of past sins and regrets, blaming themselves for their current situation.

This is a creatively written book, with the author showing the kidnapper’s frequent, corny humor, enhancing her craziness. The fish camp becomes a well worn character full of memories and mysteries. Fire is even a character - a life saver and a killer.

I recommend this book. It was hard to put down. I’d think about the story even when I wasn’t reading it. I was invested in the characters and really felt for them and their struggles.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1729743943?...