THE PERFECT ONES

Suspicion shadows a tour group when one of its members disappears.

Hollie Goodwin wakes up to the disturbing news that Alabama Wood has gone missing from their trip to Vík, Iceland. Fellow members of their group gather to hear a police officer deliver the news and announce a pending investigation. The story flashes back to Hollie in Dallas three months before and to Celeste Reed and Alabama in Chicago as they prepare for the voyage. All three are well-known Instagram influencers. Hollie and Celeste manage complex family lives, while the self-involved Alabama visits Dr. Keith Swinkle, whom she despises, and flushes the antipsychotic pills he gives her down the toilet. On such tiny spoonfuls of information is Hackett’s cleverly constructed thriller built. These telegraphic flashbacks are interspersed with scenes from the day before and the day after Alabama’s disappearance. Beneath the mystery, and at times overshadowing it, are the messy lives of this trio back home. Hollie deals with an unexpected pregnancy, Celeste with a crumbling marriage and an extremely unruly child. Throughout, Hackett strategically plants seeds of doubt, teasing the reader with pieces of the puzzle. Other members of the tour group—Emily, Margot, Katherine—lurk in the background as possible suspects. Sometimes the perspective is blurred. Does the ending of one chapter—“How shocking. Unless, of course, you already knew”—represent the thoughts of the character whose name heads that chapter or those of the author? Readers may find it challenging to remain interested in these backstories when they fight for attention with a compelling whodunit.

A twisty thriller with many detours and surprises.