The Undercurrent

DEBUT When new mother Bee’s childhood crush and neighbor Leo contacts her to tell her that her estranged twin, Gus, wants to see her, Bee travels from Maine back to her Texas home. She’s seeking reconciliation and answers for why Gus vanished from her life. Bee also ponders the unsolved 1987 disappearance of a local girl and finds what might be a clue at her own mother’s home. Set in 2011, with short flashbacks to 1987, the narrative follows three women: Bee; Bee and Gus’s mother; and Leo’s mother. The leisurely paced writing is oblique, with the plot unfolding slowly from different directions, coming into focus in the latter part of the novel. The last chapter will satisfy readers with the answer to the mystery of the girl’s disappearance, but Gus’s disappearance and reappearance are never fully explored, and the choice to have a certain villainous character never appear in person might be unsatisfying to readers.