When 17-year-old Hunter Gifford wakes in the hospital on the night of homecoming, he’s shocked to learn he and his girlfriend, Chloe Summers, have been in a terrible car accident. Hunter has no memory of the crash, and his shock turns to horror when he is told Chloe’s blood has been found in the car―but she has disappeared.

Back at school, his fellow students taunt him, and his former best friend starts making a true-crime documentary about the case―one that points the finger directly at Hunter. And just when things can’t get any worse, Chloe’s mother stands in front of the entire town at a candlelight vigil and accuses Hunter of murder.

Under mounting pressure from the police, Hunter takes matters into his own hands by questioning anyone who might know the truth and posting videos to prove his innocence. When Hunter learns he and Chloe were seen arguing loudly outside the dance, he faces a sickening possibility. Was he angry enough to kill the person he loved?

This was a one-day read for me, and it would’ve been one sitting had I not needed to do things such as chores, eat, etc. I definitely was not expecting to read this in one night when I picked it up, but once I did, I didn’t want to put it down!

For once, the story revolves around a male main character in this young-adult thriller. Lately, it’s always females, which is great, but this was a nice change of pace to have a teen male narrating the entire story. Hunter was in an accident with his girlfriend, who is now missing, but he doesn’t remember anything leading up to it, and of course, he’s the main suspect. I thought Hunter was a great main character for this story. He truly wanted to know what happened to his girlfriend, and even did things that could get him in trouble in order to find out what happened to her. Even when he knows that she might not be found alive, he just wants to know what happened to her and why.

The pacing of this story was great! It never lagged and kept me on the edge of my seat wanting to know what happened next. And as with any good thriller/mystery novel, every time I thought I had something figured out, there was another twist! At least I know I’m not detective material, haha. Though I was right about some things, just not all of it. Man, that was a twist at the end!

As for side characters, Hunter’s sister Olivia was the best! She was not afraid at all to speak her mind when it came to defending her brother against the media and town. She even got herself up in Hunter’s schemes and wasn’t afraid to mouth off to her dad (or the police if need be). She was very protective of her older brother and I loved seeing a sibling bond like that.

There’s not much I can say without giving anything away, but if you like YA mysteries/thrillers and are a fan of Natalie D. Richards or Kara Thomas, or David Bell’s other works, you’ll most likely like this one! I highly recommend it!

Rating: 4.75/5 stars