Whereabouts Unknown

[cornerofmadness]

Whereabouts Unknown by Meredith Doench

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Cw – kidnapping of pregnant teens, death, violence against women, racist alt-right cults
This is a mystery told in parallel view points. One is Theodora’s, a fifty-something detective who is trying to navigate her impending motherhood as her younger wife, Bree is expecting and the other is Annabelle, a pregnant teen who thought she was doing the right thing in giving up her baby only to be betrayed by the people she planned to entrust her child to.
Theo’s life changed dramatically in the opening chapters where she is severely injured and has a long recovery (not a spoiler, that’s in the blurb) That was rough for me as I’ve had two life altering injuries over the years including one to the leg like Theo so that cut close to the bone for me.

Theo, however, isn’t about to give up on the case she was investigating, doing most of the book work on it now as she’s confined to desk duty. A young girl has gone missing and her boss is of the mind ‘close the book, she’s a runaway teen.’ But then another girl goes missing, Annabelle, a few hours away with almost exactly the same m.o., their phone left behind in a park with their bloody handprint on it. That police department is also thinking ‘runaway teen’ but then when there is a clue suggesting there’s a link, Theo isn’t about to let it go.

So the reader knows what is really going on as we have Annabelle’s point of view (and there is some rough stuff there, see the content warnings) but it is still engaging watching Theo and her new partner, Cody, the boss’s son, close in on the truth. The truth behind Annabelle’s kidnapping – and what happens to the baby’s father – is rather disturbing and gross because you can easily see this happening. It has happened irl. I would like to see more stories with Theo.




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