THE OTHER SIDE OF DISAPPEARING

Two sisters drive across the U.S. in search of their missing mother—and find themselves along the way.

Jess Greene has kept her emotional walls up for as long as she can remember—at least since her mother ran off with a shady new boyfriend a decade ago, sending only a handful of postcards over the years. She’s spent that time trying to keep her younger half sister, Tegan, safe, protected, and in the dark about the fact that their mother’s boyfriend was an infamous con artist. But the past comes knocking when Salem Durant, host of the popular true-crime podcast that exposed the boyfriend’s crimes, shows up on Jess and Tegan’s doorstep. It turns out that Tegan thinks she knows where their mom is—and is willing to take part in a podcast attempting to find her. Jess’ first instinct is to shut the whole thing down, but something about Salem’s quiet and soulful producer, Adam Hawkins, gives her second thoughts. Embarking on a cross-country road trip with Adam, Tegan, and Salem, with only their mom’s old postcards to guide them, doesn’t seem like a great idea to Jess. But the more they drive, the closer they get to uncovering what really happened all those years ago. On a more personal level, Jess begins to unearth things about herself, including her unexpected connection with Adam. While supporting Jess’ pursuit of the truth, he reckons with his own past, including the complicated time he spent as a football player. Clayborn’s latest romance is certainly about Jess and Adam’s slow burn as a couple, but it also juggles an impressive number of other threads, including a dynamic sibling relationship and our collective obsession with true crime. The subject matter is a change of pace from Clayborn’s previous novels, but the author’s strength with character and emotion deftly shines through.

A moving odyssey of family, self-discovery, and love.