I mean, the unknown loses much of its power to enchant and frighten the instant it’s named.

The difficulty with these kinds of stories is that the Big Reveal is always in danger of falling flat. Danielewski’s House of Leaves(2000), Marisha Pessl’s Night Film(2013) Jeff Vandermeer’s Southern Reach trilogy (2014) and (in YA) E.

In this way, The Leaving reminded me of titles including Mark Z. These interruptions and patterns add to the mounting sense of mystery and unease.Īnd tension is key because The Leaving relies on a mounting sense of suspense and intrigue, and to a large extent, the story’s success hinges on whether or not the Big Reveal (i.e.: where the kids have been for eleven years) lives up to the reader’s expectations. In Lucas’ chapters, his stream of consciousness is frequently interrupted by thoughts contained in heavy black boxes and don’t feel like his own. Sometimes, her mind goes completely blank, and she’s aware of an odd clicking sound represented by forward slashes arranged in patterns over the page. In Scarlett’s chapters the words loop, distort and fracture when she tries to remember. Meanwhile, Avery is only just beginning to move on from Max’s disappearance when the search to find him begins anew. Lucas’s dad dedicates his life to memorialising his son through art and is killed the same night Lucas and his friends are dropped off at the local playground. Scarlett’s mother is convinced Scarlett was abducted by aliens and her boyfriend is full of schemes to profit from her story, if she can figure out what that story is. The chapters alternate between Scarlett, Lucas and Avery, who each have very different experiences around what the town comes to call ‘The Leaving’ and the missing kids’ unexpected return. The Leaving (Bloomsbury, 2016) is a smart and simmering psychological thriller about memory, trauma and identity. Hers will not be the only family without answers. Meanwhile, after eleven years of feeling like the one left behind, Max’s little sister, Avery, is determined to be the one to find out what happened to her brother. However, the more they learn, the more uncomfortable they feel about who they might be. They also sense that they are somehow different from the others. Gradually, two of the returned teenagers, Scarlett and Lucas, begin pulling clues from what little they know about themselves: Scarlett has swallowed a small, oval object Lucas has a still-healing, homemade tattoo Scarlett can sew and drive a car Lucas knows how to handle a gun when walking downstairs, they both skip the bottom step. However, none can remember why they were taken, where they’ve been or what happened to the sixth child, Max. Eleven years ago, six five-year-old children disappeared from a beachside town in Florida.

The leaving tara