THE QUIET GIRL

Alex Zarabian thought life was good with his new wife, Mina, until the day she disappeared.

Alex, the chief financial officer of a startup that aims to cure cancer, loves being married to successful romance author Mina Richards, and he thought she was happy, too. However, they'd argued on Monday when Alex suggested they start a family, and Mina left their Boston home for her little writing cottage in Provincetown. It wasn’t unusual for Mina to retreat to her cottage to write and think, and he thought giving her space for a few days would help, but it’s out of character for her not to respond to his texts. He only truly starts to worry when he goes up to Provincetown after work on Wednesday and finds her wedding and engagement rings in a little ceramic bowl on her desk. Then he learns that a neighbor saw Mina load a cake carrier into her car Monday night, evidently on her way to her parents’ house for dinner, which they confirm, but that’s where the trail ends. At a loss, Alex files a missing person report and starts digging for clues himself. When her phone and her car, with her wallet and keys locked inside, are found, Alex truly panics. Then there’s that new manuscript Mina left with her editor that was unlike anything she’d ever written. Turns out Alex didn’t know as much about his wife as he thought. The pseudonymous Kosa puts her real-world experience as a clinical psychologist to work exploring trauma and its insidiousness while deftly weaving together two seemingly unrelated narratives: Alex’s first-person account and one that focuses on a troubled young waitress named Layla. The story takes a bit of time to find its footing, and the passages about Alex’s workplace woes seem extraneous. However, once it picks up the pace, readers, especially those that appreciate less-than-tidy resolutions, will be hooked.

A twisty and poignant debut.