Claire is looking forward to the weekend. She and her boyfriend are going to join her best friends Kat and Jesse straight after senior prom at
a lake house owned by Kat’s wealthy grandmother.
If only Claire hadn’t caught her boyfriend cheating. Now, devastated, Kat convinces her to come on the weekend anyway. The last thing Claire wants to be is a third wheel but everyone knows wealthy, beautiful Kat gets whatever she wants.
Kat and Claire have been friends since small, and Claire knows Kat doesn’t deserve the jealousy of others. Kat deserves what she gets because she works hard for it. Claire gives in and goes on the weekend getaway. Maybe it will take her mind off the betrayal.
It’s uncomfortable, as Claire has unresolved feeling for Jesse, especially after one night when they were alone. When it happens again, she is even more confused about what she feels.
The next thing she knows is a screaming headache as she wakes alone, lying in the dirt half way down a mountain. She can’t tell the person who found her or the paramedics who are called, how she got there.
In hospital, she’s even more shocked when her parents tell her it is Sunday, not Saturday as she assumed. Where did an entire day’s memories go?
She also assumes Kat and Jesse are close, either in hospital or going to visit, but another shock hits her. They haven’t been seen since Friday.
A search and rescue finds no sign of them, and Claire is frustrated she can’t help. She remembers nothing after going to bed Friday night, why she has a lump on the back of her head that may need surgery, or what happened to her friends.
The longer time passes, social media and the press pursue a common thread – is Claire lying? But she still doesn’t remember. Could the online trolls be telling the truth? Did she do something to hurt her friends? The police have admitted that she was found with someone else’s blood besides her own on her clothing.
Fans of Karen McManus, April Henry and Holly Jackson will love this thrilling mystery. It captured me from the very first page and held me until the spellbinding twists at the end. I loved the way the author portrayed people as one way and what everyone else saw, but then revealed the behind the scenes story and motivations of behavior.
Told mostly in Claire’s viewpoint, then switching to another character, the pieces of the puzzle are slowly revealed to the reader.
Was it a crime of passion?
Was it an accident?
Was it about drugs or money?
What secrets had Kat kept from her best friend Claire their entire friendship?
What really happened That Weekend?
Loved it.
Author – Kara Thomas
Age – 13+
(2022, Penguin Random House, Friendship, Betrayal, Secrets, Family, Control, Wealth, Lake House, Secret Crush, Disappearance, Crime, Mystery, FBI, Police, Investigation, Loss of Memory, Social Media Trolls, Cousin, Twists, Amnesia, Kidnap, Courage, Guns, Violence, Confusion, Grief, Blame)