I was in a reading rut for much of July—I don’t know if it was the oppressive heat, ambient anxiety, or what, but I started and stopped three different novels. (As an aside, that’s a high rate of DNF-ing—aka “did not finish” in the Goodreads world—for me, but I highly recommend the practice. If a book isn’t speaking to you, move on! There are so many books out there for you to try instead.)
I needed something compelling and plot-driven, and boy oh boy did I find that in The Wonder State. Our main character, Jay, has been pulled back to her small town in Arkansas by a mysterious letter from her erstwhile best friend, Brandi, who stayed after high school and at least appears to have fallen prey to an unfortunately typical cocktail of opiate abuse, job instability, and bad boyfriends. Jay finds out, upon arriving, that Brandi has disappeared—and the locals think that she and their four other high school friends (who also were mysteriously summoned by Brandi) are responsible. The hodgepodge of friends feels very evocative of The Secret History, as does the sense of impending doom that permeates the book. Plus, there’s the suggestion of magic—or power derived from another, parallel world—but this certainly isn’t fantasy. I think one of my favorite things about this book is that it gets at just how much we might be ignoring (or blissfully unaware of), while unraveling a mystery that feels all too realistic. —Nora Biette-Timmons
