When recent college graduate Aubrey LaRoux returns to the private school she attended as a scholarship student, she immediately notices missing person posters dotting the campus.
Her first day as a new history teacher, Aubrey runs into the headmistress who helped make Aubrey’s life miserable in high school. Aubrey still remembers the bullying she endured, being different than the privileged students on campus. She senses Waverly Prep hasn’t changed much since she was there.
Aubrey tries to follow the school rules and win the trust of her new students, but she becomes ensnared in a plan to find their missing friend, Lindsey, after encouraging her students to form an investigation team to help cope with their loss. But Lindsey isn’t the first to go missing from Waverly Prep. One student disappeared when Aubrey was there—and she was the prime suspect. The teens believe Aubrey knows more than she’s admitting, but does she? Can they trust her? Can she trust them? What’s the secret that Lindsey was killed for? Her friends claim she never told them. But soon, the student investigation team begins to be picked off one by one–each in a horrifically creative way. The campus is in an uproar, and it’s all Aubrey can do to hold it together. Especially when the new sheriff begins to show up everywhere she turns.
Who will be next, and how will they die?
Have You Seen Me? will appeal to both young adults and adults alike. It explores the psychological undertones of upper-status prep schools and a young, twenty-something teacher who returns to confront her past. The story also delves into cultural differences, race, politics, class issues, and bullying.
Multi-award-winning author Alexandrea Weis has done it again. Have You Seen Me? is a mixture of thrilling suspense and slasher horror with a touch of romance. Many reviews say it’s impossible to put down, and that is what I found as well. The fear is palpable, and the setting is eerie. You can practically feel the historical grounds of the campus as it becomes a character of its own. Weis is known for writing atmospheric settings as well as Southern Gothics that leap off the page, and Have You Seen Me? is true to form. While there are several possible suspects and enough red herrings to keep the tension high, even if you guess “whodunit,” there is a twist at the end guaranteed to surprise the most seasoned mystery reader. While this story draws to a definite conclusion, the epilogue leaves the door open to return to Waverly Prep.
Apple Books featured the novel on their Summer’s Most Anticipated Mysteries & Thrillers list, and it was selected as one of this year’s greatest titles in Buzz Books Great Reads Spring/Summer 2021.
Published by Vesuvian Books, the hardcover retails for $19.95 and the eBook is $9.99. You can catch the book trailer here. I can’t wait for the movie!
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