In If I Disappear by Eliza Jane Brazier, Obsessed true crime podcast fan Sera Fleece drives to Happy Camp, California, searching for host Rachel Bard, who’s suddenly gone missing. With little more than the clothes on her back, Sera shows up at the isolated ranch where Rachel lived and gets a job cleaning and minding the horses. From the moment she arrives, you’re wondering, what is going on here? Is this a cult?
Author Eliza Jane Brazier leads us down a few different winding paths. And for the first half of If I Disappear I couldn’t decide if Sera was lost and broken, or actually suffering from mental illness…probably both. Paranoia for sure, but maybe more? Once the action kicks in in earnest, Sera’s tone shifts dramatically, and she seems more lucid and clear-headed than she ever was early on.
‘There’s a lot more to parse around how women are dismissed as crazy (the word is used 54 times in the book). And around obsessed fandom/ stalking, which never gets mentioned (not surprising given this is told in first person from Sera’s perspective).
Quietly suspenseful, If I Disappear leaves you wondering who to believe. Overall a satisfying read.
If I Disappear hits shelves January 26.
Get If I Disappear by Eliza Jane Brazier at Bookshop.org | IndieBound| Amazon| Apple Books
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