...she had been dying to wear them, and today was teh day.
WHAT THE DEAD KNOW
By Laura Lippman
There was a very specific moment where this novel crystallized what exactly it was that mysteries were meant to do for the reader. The payoff at the center of the plot-based genre. And it was the moment where I "figured it out," where I solved the mystery, and the fact that my realization came before the BIG REVEAL made it that much more satisfying.
When two adolescent girls disappear in 1975 Baltimore, it sets in motion the slow burn of a family disintegrating as the investigation peters out over several decades. A bizarre car accident hands the Baltimore Police Department a startling, incoherent woman who just may be the missing key to the long-forgotten case, if only she could tell the detectives her real name, if only each clue she left didn't lead to a dead end.
The novel is an interesting exploration into what the tragedy of two kidnapped young girls does to the people involved, how the stone dropped in the pond ripples out, topples a few bridges, reveals the fissures that were already there, to paraphrase a character in the book.
The characters don't start off as particularly compelling, and it's slow going at first, but the novel is content not having those as its strengths. For those with author loyalty or for whatever reason willing to soldier on through the first few chapters, there is a reward somewhere in the decades-spanning back-and-forth, a gem in the sands.
Trust me, it's worth the search.