You Were Never Here

YA chiller 

     "When bad things did happen, they certainly didn't happen to boys like Riley; they didn't happen to boys who shone so bright the whole town waited to see what their futures held."

     Cat, narrator of Kathleen Peacock's You Were Never Here, is not a happy camper.  Because of an incident she was involved in her father has put her on a bus to the small, well past its prime Canadian town, Montgomery Falls, that her ancestors founded.  She's going to spend the summer in the custody of her Aunt Jet at the old home place.  She'd much rather be in New York.

     Arriving in town, Cat sees a missing poster for her former boy next door best friend, Riley.  He'd vanished without a trace three months earlier.  Some people like the police think he's run off like so many teenage boys.  Maybe he isn't as perfect as people think.  Maybe he's in some kind of trouble.  His grief stricken mother claims that she hears him at night.  Some people, including his older brother, Noah, think there's something more sinister behind his disappearance.  

     "Imagine you're eleven years old.  You know there's something wrong with you.  Really really wrong.  You know you're seeing things that aren't there.  But it's not all the time.  Only ever as long as you touch someone else."

     Odd psychic talents run in Cat's blood line.  Hers appeared just months before her twelfth birthday, back when she and Riley still were chums, before she and her dad left for New York.  When she touches someone Cat catches vivid glimpses of what they most covet or most dread, accompanied by severe migraines.  

     Because of this gift/curse Noah asks Cat to help him.  Privately he's just about given up on seeing Riley alive.  But he keeps on searching.  He believes that if Cat touches enough people she'll get some new clues.

     This isn't something Cat really wants to do.  She suspects that Canada 🇨🇦 may have some laws against running 🏃‍♀️ around touching random people.  But one night as she and some new friends cross a railroad trestle she sees a body in the river.  Rachel is barely alive.  Her arms are covered in ritualistic looking gashes.  When she eventually wakes up she can't remember a thing.

     Maybe her assault and Riley's Disappearance are connected.

     Maybe the same person is responsible for both.

     Maybe it's only a matter of time before that person strikes again.

     Maybe it's time for Cat to harness her gift/curse before that happens.

On a purrrsonal note, today is Juneteenth.  I am very glad that it's finally recognized nationally.  I am also really pissed off that companies are already commercializing a deeply meaningful occasion.  (Jules)

A great big shout out goes out to all our readers who are celebrating Juneteenth today.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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