When Mimi Went Missing
In Suja Sukumar’s thriller When Mimi Went Missing, a teenager whose cousin disappeared grieves for their seemingly lost sisterhood.
When she was eight, Tanvi moved in with her aunt and cousin after her mother murdered her father. Mimi, Tanvi’s older cousin, protected her from the bullies who taunted her, insinuating that she’d become like her mother. But then Mimi befriended the school’s it girl and became another of Tanvi’s tormentors. The wound was deep.
Now, Tanvi faces memory gaps from the night Mimi vanished, struggling to remember whether Mimi’s earlier betrayal did indeed make her become like her mother, as almost everyone seems to think. Her fragmented recollections surface following triggers like the sound of rain, the clacking of heels, and the rush of a waterfall. Her confusion dominates her search as she races to uncover what happened to her cousin: Mimi had refused to speak to her for months, but Tanvi believes Mimi told her something important before she vanished. Meanwhile, she receives suspicious looks from those knowledgeable about the night Mimi went missing.
There are disclosures from guilt-ridden people, malicious taunts, and fame-hungry social media coverage of the tragedy. These influences pull Tanvi’s investigation in gripping directions as she tries to get answers while being eyed with increasing suspicion by the police officers investigating the case, who pick at holes in her statement. The characters maintain the game of whodunnit, displaying layers, revealing scraps of information as needed, and arousing wariness, as with Mimi’s boyfriend’s cryptic phone conversations and her former best friend’s stalking activities. Outright revelations are delayed; the suspense heightens.
When Mimi Went Missing is an immersive novel about a chase after a killer who is too close for comfort.
Reviewed by
Gabriella Harrison
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