Sleepy Hollow, New York, a small town steeped in ghost stories and legends, was the scene of the Tanner family disappearance fifteen years ago. Historian, Patrick, his wife, Victoria, and their two kids - Aubrey and Noah. No bodies, no word, simply vanished. A blood stain on the floor of the entryway in their home and a fire at the bookstore they owned the only clues.
Xavier Tanner, Patrick's father, has finally died. A man no one will mourn, but his death means the reading of his will, and that brings together three women who know more about the disappearance of the Tanner family than they are letting on. There's Stella, a local psychologist and Xavier's great-niece. Her marriage imploded after the Tanners vanished, she's a single mother to a toddler daughter, and dealing with her grasping mother. Marni is a local elementary school teacher who was Victoria's best friend and then there is a Hanna, owner of a local café and single mother to Jeremy, now in college. All three of these women were at the Tanner home the day the family disappeared. All three of them have secrets they want to stay buried - and then Aubrey Tanner, prodigal daughter who has been missing along with her family for the past 15 years walks through the doors of the courthouse.
This story started slow for me. Probably the first 30% is Stella, Marni and Hanna unspooling when Aubrey reappears, and then in waltzes a guy who claims he's writing a book on the Tanner family disappearance and wants to interview them. Kane then spends some time introducing a few more secondary characters, including Stella's ex, her exhausting mother, Hanna's son Jeremy, etc. etc.
This one didn't really sink it's claws into me until Hanna begins to emerge as the character you want to root for. Her life has not been easy, raising Jeremy on her own, building and running her own business. She's the queen of the side hustle, which is how she comes into the orbit of the Tanner family - she does some work as Patrick's research assistant. Aubrey's reappearance sends her into a spiral and when the past threatens her son she goes into full blown mama bear protector mode. Hanna taking charge is what gets this story to cook.
The story is told in alternating points of view between Hanna, Marni and Stella as the author starts laying out the puzzle pieces and getting everything to fit together. Aubrey is definitely playing the long game here - and as the reader you waffle between wondering if she's the villain or the wronged party.
This story was a slower build than some of Kane's other books, so while I enjoyed it once the plot started to simmer, it's probably not the book I'll recommend to folks who want to start reading her work. Still, it was entertaining and I'm nothing if not a sucker for small town secrets - of which Kane's Sleepy Hollow has plenty.
Final Grade = B
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