Best friends Corey and Kyra were inseparable in their tiny snow-covered town of Lost Creek, Alaska. But as Kyra starts to struggle with her bipolar disorder, Corey’s family moves away. Worried about what might happen in her absence, Corey makes Kyra promise that she’ll stay strong during the long, dark winter.
Then, just days before Corey is to visit, Kyra dies. Corey is devastated—and confused, because Kyra said she wouldn’t hurt herself. The entire Lost community speaks in hushed tones, saying Kyra’s death was meant to be. And they push Corey away like she’s a stranger.
The further Corey investigates—and the more questions she asks—the greater her suspicion grows. Lost is keeping secrets—chilling secrets. Can she piece together the truth about Kyra’s death and survive her visit?
This is a book I received as an ARC years ago and I have tried reading it before, but this is a difficult one to get into.
Corey returns to her hometown after her best friend, Kyra’s, apparent suicide. Corey is confused and grieving, not only at Kyra’s death but also at how the town has changed since she left. She investigates, despite hostility from multiple people, and figures out what is really going on.
So I wanted to like this book. I love books set in winter, in inhospitable climates, and that was very fun to read about, especially how it changed how the characters reacted to things. I also really appreciated the theme of Kyra and how people treated her like her mental illness (she is diagnosed with bipolar) is the only thing that she is, and I really appreciated the discussion about people valuing the art more than the person. There were some genuinely creepy moments in this book, especially when people kept saying ‘it was her time’ about a seventeen-year-old girl who killed herself.
That being said, the thriller aspect was not one I particularly enjoyed or thought was necessary. We didn’t have to have the chase scene at the end of the book, we didn’t have to have Corey’s suspicions be right, we could just have had Kyra dying from everyone around her neglecting her well-being in favour of what she could do for them.
The writing style – a mix of letters, phone calls, prose, play extracts, different timelines, was more confusing than interesting by the end and it definitely took me a while to get into this book.
I am glad I read this book, I think it did have some interesting things to say, I just wished the book had focused more on those interesting things, rather than having a ‘big twist’.
2.5 stars!
