In Case I Go Missing

This contemporary Young Adult Mystery by R. N. Swann is set in the small town of Richmond, South Dakota, where several generations of young investigators unearth buried secrets that disrupt and endanger the lives of its residents.

When their best friend Sarah goes missing, Fenny and Sam don’t trust the authorities to find her. They take up the investigation. But this leads them down a dark rabbit hole. They not only uncover a grizzly crime scene, but a deadly cover-up, putting a target on their backs. But despite the risks to their reputation, families, and lives, they won’t stop until they find their friend and see justice served. 

This is one of those books you really can’t put down. 

Let me begin this review with the characters. The story is told through Fenris Jane Allen, as she writes out her deposition, detailing everything that happened from the moment she learned of Sarah’s “official disappearance.” It’s a clever way to “tell” this first-person narrative, but it took me a beat to figure out why it started with the legal document; that’s probably just this reader.

In my opinion, it’s the characters that truly make this book a must-read.

In the young adult mystery and thriller genre fiction, there are a lot of “girl gone” plot lines, but when the author creates richly dimensional characters, she swiftly draws you into their world. 

The three main characters forged a friendship after the righteous Sarah became a crusader for righting wrongs in elementary school. When Sarah and Fenny stood up to a kid bullying Sam, the three became inseparable. Sarah’s championing trait is what leads Fenny to gift her an “In Case I Go Missing” binder as a gag, never imagining it would be the pivotal clue to finding their friend. 

Fenny and Sam are opposites, but their backstories are critical to the storyline. Fenny comes from a broken family. With only an absentee mother who suffers from alcoholism, she has the freedom at sixteen to go all in on this investigation without answering to anyone. This answered many questions in this reader’s mind. Now this goes onto a point where her mother’s arc shifts because of Fenny’s courage. Who doesn’t love an adult’s trajectory changing for the better because of their child?

Sam, on the other hand, comes from money and is the younger son of the town’s founder. Family, the Kellys. His older golden boy, Brian, is a bully, and because Sarah had once blackmailed Brian, Fenny and Sam set their sights on proving Brian is behind Sarah’s disappearance. 

There are way more characters in the book than I will include here, but in my opinion, Fenny and Sam are the ones you get to know and fall in love with.

There is an interesting historical bit, which I’m more than curious about. Is this story based on a watershed event or site that exists? Yes, this is one of those books that, once you finish, you want to know more about the author and their inspiration. So, I did a little digging. I learned there is a location near the Black Hills that would spark an author’s imagination. Also, I discovered that an “In Case I Go Missing Binder” is a thing. For fans of true crime, these are becoming quite a popular must-have.