Alden thinks he witnessed a murder, but when the dead girl turns up alive, he must figure out the truth in this chilling novel 

Alden likes to follow people. He’s not trying to be a creep, he just wants to be an investigator some day, and it’s good practice.

But spying on people comes with risks…like seeing popular Greg Matthews seemingly murder his girlfriend, Amy, behind the school.

But the facts aren’t adding up, especially because Amy turns up a few days later…alive. Now Alden has to figure what he could have seen… and what secrets Greg is hiding.

Thank you so much to Edelweiss for my copy of this book! I love a good mystery, and the synopsis for this one had me super intrigued before I even read the first sentence. We are thrown into Alden’s world, and it is an unstable one. He had to watch his parents be gunned down as a child, and now is dedicated to following people around to try and prevent future tragedies from happening. His best friend, Charlie, asks him to stop, but when he sees the glimmering epitome of perfection that is Greg Matthes acting strangely, he decides to follow his gut and puts his amateur detective skills to the test once again.

Alden watches a scene unfold that he could never have imagined. Greg fights with his girlfriend, Amy, and the last visual that Alden can see of her is her body laying on the ground. Greg leaves with a backpack stained with blood, and Amy’s final cry still rings in Alden’s ears. He brings Charlie onto the case, and the two of them work diligently to scrounge up more evidence. When Amy comes back to school on Monday alive and well, the duo are forced to call it quits. Alden can’t stop the nagging voice in his head, and so he continues the fight and uncovers a plethora of secrets as the disguise that people he has known for years starts to slip off.

There are so many twists and turns in this that I honestly could not put it down. Once I thought I had figured out what was going on, the book did a 180 and suddenly I was being led down a different path. I also loved Alden so much. He was honest, brave, and dedicated. He had so much guilt for the death of his parents, and was trying to make amends for their blood on his hands. Protagonist aside, there were so many compelling characters with fantastic personalities; especially our potential villain, Greg, and the uber-religious Amy. I thought the ending was sublime, and I honestly never expected it and audibly gasped when the mystery was solved. This is such a quick, engrossing read, and would be perfect to binge on a summer’s day!

5/5 stars