Missing Mom by Lynn Slaughter!

Believe it or not, it wasn't the cover that had me picking this one up. It was the blurb, and if that stays true to the plot, than the title says everything. This one is about a teen girl, whose mother suddenly goes missing. There should be some family drama involved, and the difficult theme of family abuse will be popping up too. It's been getting good reviews, and since I haven't tackled a mystery along these lines in a long time, I wanted to give it a go.

Let's see how intense this one gets.

MISSING MOM

by Lynn Slaughter

Fire and Ice Young Adult Books

YA Mystery

292 pages

COMING...

JANUARY 14th!!!

Devastated by her mom’s sudden disappearance and the evidence pointing to suicide, seventeen-year-old Noelle, an aspiring ballet dancer, doesn’t believe her mom would ever have taken her own life. She undertakes her own investigation to find out what really happened to her mother.

Meantime, Noelle is dealing with growing romantic feelings for Ravi, her best friend and fellow dancer. And she’s worried about her little sister, Whitney, who won’t talk about why she doesn’t want to visit their dad.

Threaded throughout the novel is also the story of Savannah, a young woman whose escape from an abusive marriage nearly two decades earlier turns out to be connected to Noelle’s investigation.

GOODREADS

MY TIDBITS

Mystery mixes with thrilling moments, a quick pace, and more than a few triggers to create a deep and grabbing read.

Noelle is in the middle of dance class, when she's suddenly pulled to the side with the news that her mother never picked her younger sister up as scheduled. Since her mother never misses anything, Noelle knows something is up. When her step-father and dad are finally in the loop, it becomes clear that something is very wrong and the police are pulled in. But the police don't seem to be getting anywhere. Noelle refuses to let things lie and does her best to find out where her mother is... or if she's still alive. But her digging takes unexpected turns, and these expose a dark side Noelle could have never guessed existed.

First off, there are quite a few triggers in this read (domestic abuse, pedophilia, tendencies toward suicide, and more). These are handled well and don't go into huge detail. They do, however, have a tendency to suddenly pop-in and surprise. Still, they meld into the tale flow well and simply make this a much more serious read than I first expected it would be. 

That said, while reading the first chapter or so, I did wonder if this would be good for middle graders (obviously not after hitting the above triggers), since the writing creates a quick, easy read which flows right along. There isn't as much 'depth' as often found in YA reads and several plot twits were easy to see coming. Yet, the characters pack heart and are very sympathetic, making it no problem to be drawn into the tale all the way to the end. The tight writing turns into a strength, bringing across every moment with the potency it needs to propel the plot forward and keep those pages turning.

There's quite a bit to digest in during this story, and the mystery is thrilling. In other words, I can recommend this one to mystery fans, who enjoy tough issues along the way.

And here she is...

Lynn Slaughter: Lynn Slaughter loves the arts, chocolate, and her husband’s cooking. After a long career as a professional dancer and dance educator, she earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. In addition to her adult mystery, MISSED CUE, she is the award-winning author of five young adult romantic mysteries: DEADLY SETUP, LEISHA’S SONG, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU, WHILE I DANCED, and MISSING MOM. The ridiculously proud mother of two grown sons and besotted grandmother of five, Lynn lives in Louisville, Kentucky where she’s an active member and former president of Derby Rotten Scoundrels, the Ohio River Valley chapter of Sisters in Crime. Learn more about her at her website or follow her on X.