‘Every Small Town has its Secrets’
The novel follows this common trope of mystery thrillers taking place in a small or close-knit town. These communities tend to have long-kept secrets or history that differ in magnitude but play a significant role in the present. Conflict ensues when girls start vanishing which leads to past cold cases that involved missing girls. As such, the detective takes it upon herself to uncover who can be keeping secrets that relate to the crimes. By digging into the skeletons in the closet of the townspeople, Josie comes closer to the truth of the matter. She has to figure out whom to trust since secrets are always kept in a small town and to what length are they willing to go to keep them.
Emotional Trauma
The novel revolves around vanishing girls going through a traumatic experience seeing from the few survivors. They find the girl they were unaware was missing very disturbed and unresponsive, proving there has been emotional trauma. The girls in the town are in danger of these kidnappings which create a distressing environment for them. Our protagonist is not an exception because she is dealing with her childhood experience and domestic issues. In her childhood, she had an abusive relationship with her mother which she copes with by drinking alcohol. Before the current case, Josie is suspended from duty for misconduct on the field involving excessive force. Moreover, issues from her broken marriage haunt her since the ex-husband refuses to formally end the marriage.
Race against Time
Time is always against the protagonist when trying to solve a mystery in a life or death situation. In the process of finding Isabelle—the latest missing girl—Josie comes across another mysterious girl who had gone missing. The only information she gets from her is the name Ramona who could be another victim of kidnapping. Furthermore, a previous case from a while back that was dismissed as a hoax gives Josie more to work with. Though she closes in on the facts, time is limited as the lives of innocent girls are on the line if she fails. As the story reveals more twists and turns, Josie is on her toes to find the missing girls before they are murdered.
