Synopsis

When her favorite true crime podcast host goes missing, an adrift young woman plunges headfirst into the wild backcountry of Northern California and her own dangerous obsession.

Sera loves true crime podcasts. They make her feel empowered in a world where women just like her disappear daily. She’s sure they are preparing her for something. So when Rachel, her favorite podcast host, goes missing, Sera knows it’s time to act. Rachel has always taught her to trust her instincts.

Sera follows the clues hidden in the episodes to an isolated ranch outside Rachel’s small hometown to begin her search. She’s convinced her investigation will make Rachel so proud. But the more Sera digs into this unfamiliar world, the more off things start to feel. Because Rachel is not the first woman to vanish from the ranch, and she won’t be the last…

Rachel did try to warn her.

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Review

This is one of the strangest books I have read so far this year. The story follows Sera, who is an obsessed fan of Rachel’s who has a true-crime podcast. Sera has listened to all of these podcasts so many times she probably has them memorized. When Rachel goes missing, Sera sets out to find out what happened to her by venturing up to where Rachel lived in the middle of nowhere on the family ranch.

The story is told in the second person where Sera talks to Rachel as if she is there with her or while Sera is trying to figure out what happened to Rachel. I loved the clips of the podcast interspersed throughout the book so we had a better understanding of when certain cases were mentioned. I am not a true-crime connoisseur but know many that are and they would probably have loved this podcast. There is mention of how tough the true crime community can be on each other and those that prepare the podcasts. I can only imagine how rabid some fans might become.

I’m not quite sure how I feel about Sera. It seems like her life is not what she expected with several failed marriages/relationships and dead-end jobs that she can’t seem to keep very long. But at the same time, I felt like Sera was venturing out of her shell and pursuing something that interested her and doing the unexpected. Now for someone that listened to true crime podcasts, it seems like she put herself in some sticky situations that she should have known better.

The story has some twists and turns and the ending was quite a surprise and not one that I was expecting.

Overall, we give this book 3 1/2 paws.