30 years after his best friend goes missing, Ethan moves back to his childhood home and comes face to face with his past. 

At first I found this to be fast paced and gripping, but the last chunk was such a let down. There was so much potential for a killer ending, especially with the supernatural/cult elements we see throughout the book. The big reveal felt very underwhelming.

Billy snuck out at night to go to the institute and was accidentally hit by a car. Ethan's babysitter was driving drunk and underage. She panicked and threw Billy's body into the lake.

The flash forward at the end was enderring, but felt like a very awkward ending. I really wish the story had leaned into the supernatural elements more, there was so much potential there! 

The story switches to the past leading up to Billy's disappearance and the present in which Ethan is trying to solve the mystery. We see the story through multiple POVs. I found that despite there being a fairly large cast of characters, they were all fleshed out and had pretty good character development. 

At first I thought Ethan was a pretty reliable narrator, but after we find out that

his wife is actually dead, I started to question his sanity

. There are so many red herrings in this book, and honestly I did see a lot of them coming:

his neighbour and mother working for the institute, someone trying to mess with him with the baseballs, etc...

 

Overall, this was a pretty decent thriller.