LONG BURIED

A disgraced school psychologist becomes implicated in a girl’s disappearance in Kane’s thriller.

Dr. Juniper Pickett hasn’t been back to her hometown of Sweetbriar, Texas, in 20 years. It’s also been 20 years since quaint, rural Sweetbriar was upended by the case of a missing girl named Blair Lenox. As a teen, Juniper (called “June” by those who love her and “Junebug” by those who don’t) suffered at the hands of an unfeeling band of bullies led by Blair (“The girl [she] wished dead a thousand times”) and the unstable football star Duane Dupree. June, pushed to the breaking point, was determined to exact her revenge on the night of her graduation and the burial of the class of 1997’s time capsule, but she was thwarted by Blair’s desire to rule over all, even after graduation. Now, decades later, June’s class plans to unearth the time capsule, which contains a letter the 18-year-old June wrote, laying out her intentions. June, fleeing from a major career upset as a school psychologist in San Francisco, decides to return to Sweetbriar before the reunion, dig up the time capsule, and destroy her letter. However, her plans are thwarted once more, this time by the discovery of a major piece of evidence that blows Blair’s now-cold case wide open and implicates June as the prime suspect. Writing an enthralling and captivating thriller is a difficult task; writing a novel that effectively addresses trauma, abuse, and the long-term effects of bullying is even harder. Somehow, Kane has managed to accomplish both at once, with seeming effortlessness. June, displaying complexity and grit, echoes the style and perspective of many high school misfits who have come before her. The small-town toxicity of Sweetbriar is emotionally charged and vivid, providing an honest, unflinching portrayal of deeply ingrained community trauma. Kane deftly juggles wit, mystery, intrigue, and wholesome romance without once resorting to predictable plotting or taking the easy way out. The result is an entertaining, immersive novel that evinces a sincere understanding of the misfits of the world.

A cold case mystery that proves even the grittiest of thrillers can be heartfelt.