THE WILD ONE

Three young women who witnessed a death at summer camp when they were kids come together to try to keep the real events behind the death a secret.

Amanda, Catherine, and Meg: three women who last saw one another more than 10 years earlier. All have kept the secret of how a man died at Camp Catalpa that year, until Amanda slipped and decided to tell her boyfriend, Jackson, because true love means knowing all the parts of a person, she believes. Amanda—always a follower and sidekick, desperate for acceptance by the queen bees among her peers—is now a graduate student in cognitive psychology in New York. Catherine—nerdy, focused, excellent at compartmentalizing and not letting the bullies get to her despite being picked on—is a graduate student in computer science in Boston. Meg—the camp director’s niece and a mystery girl at the edges of the camp bubble—is a waitress at a casino. Author McKeegan has created two stories in one. “Then” follows the girls at camp the summer they were 12 along with their fellow campers. “Now” follows the women in the current day in the aftermath of Amanda’s breaking their pact to keep the events of that summer night a secret. The story digs into what causes kids who might otherwise be friends to see each other as enemies and how even nice kids can lean into becoming bullies in an effort to find their own acceptance. It also touches on the emotional turmoil and stress of abuse—both emotional and physical—and the long-term effects of unaddressed trauma. The book has hints of Tana French and Tara Isabella Burton without being as dark.

An engaging thriller that touches on tough topics without becoming voyeuristic.