Adam Mitzner, Dead Certain

Charlotte Broden disappears one day. The story of the ensuing investigation is told in large part from the perspective of her older sister, Ella. Ella is a defense attorney working at her father's law firm, but along the way to becoming a lawyer, she suppressed her desire to be a singer. Now she sings once a week at a lounge on open-mic night, adopting a secret identity she hasn't even told her sister about. Charlotte is a writer with a secret life of her own, as the investigation into her disappearance uncovers. Her unfinished novel, which she gave to Ella to read, is excerpted throughout this book and winds up providing important clues about what happened to her. In addition to Ella's chapters and the novel excerpts, we eventually hear the story from another character's perspective. I won't give away that person's identity, although I will say that the addition of this third voice was a surprising choice from the author. The fracturing of the story—multiple perspectives and the excerpts—might not have worked if done poorly, but I think it worked well enough. It certainly held my interest. My only complaint is that the resolution—the moment when Ella figures things out—comes faster than I would have liked. It was an unsatisfying payoff after so much buildup.