Intoxicating page-turning mystery

filled star filled star filled star filled star star unfilled
bookmarkonthewall Avatar

By

โ€™๐™๐™๐™š๐™ง๐™š ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™จ, ๐™Ÿ๐™ช๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง๐™š ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™™๐™š๐™จ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™–๐™›๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ค๐™ฃ, ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ž๐™˜๐™ ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™š๐™ฉ๐™˜๐™๐™š๐™จ ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š ๐™œ๐™ช๐™ข ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฎ๐™š๐™ฉ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™–๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™จ ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ, ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™›๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก๐™š๐™™ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™ก๐™–๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™™๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™™๐™ช๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ง..โ€™

It is the summer of 1959 in the idyllic neighbourhood of Sunnylakes, California, filled with identical house and neat lawns and pretty fences, with every family living the American Dream.

Until one long long afternoon, Joyce, a seemingly happy housewife and mother, disappears, leaving two scared young children and a messy kitchen with blood stains.

This is an intoxicating page-turning mystery. Vesperโ€™s writing transports the reader into life in the 1950โ€™s with insightful observations into the issues that plagued the decade - the oppression of living the American Dream and patriarchal society, injustices associated with race, class and privilege. Just like the insufferable Californian heat, the backdrop of issues permeates throughout the storyline and we witness the fractures in societal and familial life.

Vesper uses multiple narrative perspectives (Joyce leading up to her disappearance, housekeeper Ruby and the lead detective Mick) to good effect to figure out the mystery disappearance of Joyce. This provides fascinating view points and we soon discover everyone has desire, hopes and dreams, as well as secrets.

An immersive and captivating read which will make you read until the end to understand the reasons behind Joyce vanishing.