Author: Amanda Dewitt
Genre: mild sci-fi
Age range: teen
Similar book: Yesterday is History by Kosoko Jackson
Summary (provided by publisher): Thirty years ago, Grace’s mom left her hometown of Hermitage, Florida and never looked back—which is exactly why Grace thinks it’s the safest place to spend her summer now. Since her mom died in a car crash, Grace has been desperate to get away from the memories and reminders of her loss. Spending the summer transcribing cassette tapes for the Hermitage Historical Society might be boring, but boring is just what Grace needs.
Until she hears the voice of Jake Underwood—the boy who first recorded the cassette tapes back in 1992. When Grace realizes he can hear anything she records, despite thirty years of time between them, they strike up an impossible conversation through the tapes.
But the past isn’t any simpler than the present, and a mystery has haunted Hermitage through the generations. In the 1970’s, a hurricane made landfall and resulted in the tragic death of Jake’s uncle Charley. In a town as suffocatingly small as Hermitage, it’s impossible not to notice how no one talks about that storm, or Charley, and as the mystery unfurls, Grace can’t help but realize a worse truth: No one talks about Jake either.
What I liked: Time travel(ish) narratives can be a tricky thing to maneuver. Discovering you have a way to communicate with the past always introduces the question: can you change what has already happened? Dewitt's handling of this question is stellar. Without the conversational nature of the tapes this would be a standard true crime investigation, with Grace digging into the town's secrets. Giving her an interactive link to the past humanizes the victims, reminds us that the people involved were real, not just names on a screen. And I feel like the ultimate conclusion is realistic as well.
What I didn't like: The tension isn't always consistent. This is less a mystery than it is a story of a relationship. While Grace and Jake are reasonably complex, the other characters leave a little something to be desired.
Advanced Reader Copy provided b NetGalley
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