Title: Everything We Lost by Valerie Geary
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Genre: 480 pages
Length: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Book Rating: B
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss
Summary:
From the critically acclaimed author of Crooked River comes this fascinating novel about a young woman searching for answers about events that transpired ten years before when her brother disappeared without a trace—an utterly mesmerizing psychological thriller.
Lucy Durant was only fourteen-years-old when she lost her older brother. First to his paranoid delusions as he became increasingly obsessed with UFOs and government conspiracies. Then, permanently, when he walked into the desert outside Bishop, California, and never returned.
Now on the tenth anniversary of Nolan’s mysterious disappearance, Lucy is still struggling with guilt and confusion—her memories from that period are blurry and obscured by time, distance, and alcohol. Now an adult, she’s stuck in a holding pattern, hiding out at her father’s house, avoiding people, and doing whatever she can to keep herself from thinking about Nolan. But when a series of unsettling events leads Lucy back to Bishop, she is forced to reconcile with her estranged mother and come to terms with the tangled memories of her past to discover what really happened to her brother all those years ago.
Told in Lucy and Nolan’s alternating voices, Everything We Lost is a psychological mystery exploring family, beliefs, obsessions, the nature of memory, and fear of the unknown—a haunting, compelling story that will resonate with readers long after the last page is turned.
Review:
Everything We Lost by Valerie Geary is an intriguing mystery that explores UFOs, extraterrestrial and government conspiracies. This compelling novel centers around the still unresolved disappearance of then sixteen year old Nolan Durrant, whose increasingly erratic and paranoid behavior and intractable belief in all things UFO raises makes him an outcast among his classmates and an embarrassment to his younger sister, Lucy.
The ten year anniversary of her brother’s disappearance is the catalyst for Lucy’s return to the small town of Bishop, CA where she hopes to finally remember what happened the night Nolan vanished. The siblings were thick as thieves until Lucy catches the eye of Nolan’s former friend, Patrick Tyndale, and she begins hanging out with him and his friends. This coincides with Nolan’s new relationship with newcomer, Celeste, whose sudden appearance in town and mysterious past fuels his theory that space aliens walk among us. In the weeks leading up to his disappearance, Nolan’s paranoid, volatile and delusional behavior begins to worsen after a few altercations with Patrick. Lucy’s memories of the night Nolan vanished are lost in a drunken haze of disjointed impressions and overwhelming guilt. Will Lucy’s return to Bishop finally lead her the truth about what happened to her brother?
Lucy and Nolan’s childhood was anything but normal due to their parents’ divorce and their mother’s slow descent into alcoholism. Lucy was more than happy to tag along with Nolan on his fantasy fueled adventures about other planets, UFOs and space aliens. However, around the time Lucy becomes involved with Patrick, Nolan’s interest in UFOs and extraterrestrials takes a dark turn and he grows increasingly unstable and convinced the government is after him. Patrick is charismatic and Lucy easily falls prey to his manipulations as she tries to keep his interest. With his lifelong fascination with outer space, Lucy’s attempt to distance herself from her brother and their mother’s neglect, Nolan’s slow descent into mental illness is easily overlooked.
Written from both Lucy and Nolan’s points of view and alternating between past and present, Everything We Lost is an engaging mystery. Valerie Geary does an excellent job keeping readers off balance as she delves into the possibilities of life on other planets and extraterrestrials in our midst. She also broaches the difficult topic of mental illness with a great deal of sensitivity. Although the novel’s conclusion is somewhat open-ended, it is relatively easy to surmise Nolan’s fate. All in all, a perplexing mystery that explores some interesting subject matter.
