After You Vanished

Neeves concocts an emotional debut in which two teens find themselves at the center of an investigation around a missing girl. It’s been a year since 18-year-old Teddy Ware’s twin sister, Izzy, seemingly vanished into thin air while racing her best friend Toby Smith across Massachusetts’s Bottomrock Lake. While everyone assumes that Izzy drowned, Teddy doesn’t believe it, since the police never found a body. What’s more, Izzy was training to be an Olympic swimmer, so a mile-long trek across the lake should have been easy for her. Teddy has been holding on to the hope that her sister’s missing passport means she’s alive and is hiding out somewhere. Teddy is soon blindsided to learn that she will be working alongside Toby as a lifeguard at the lake. When he offers to help her search for the truth, the two begin unraveling the riddle of what happened that night. Twists feel fresh and conceivable, and Teddy’s relationships with both Izzy and Toby unfold at a compelling pace. The protagonist’s resolute voice, formatted as if she is speaking directly to her sibling, propels this by turns thrilling mystery and tender, complex portrait of grief. Main characters read as white. Ages 12–up. Agent: Beth Miller, Writers House. (Aug.)