Lindsey Lost (review)

The Hamilton siblings are noted for their athleticism: junior Micah is a promising pitcher, and senior Lindsey an Olympic hopeful track star. Lately, though, Lindsey has been touchy, overwrought, and disinclined to confide as usual in her brother. When her body is found in the woods, suspicion falls first on Micah, who was apparently the last person to see her alive. Micah, however, cannot remember much of anything past seeing Lindsey quarrel with her track coach, and while the police try to be patient as Micah struggles to recover his memory, his father, a psychiatrist, pushes him hard to confront the tragedy. As details leak into the open, it seems possible that Dr. Hamilton himself could have acted in passion, having gone into debt for his daughter's training. Or was it Coach Kelly, whose shot at a job at UCLU hinged on Lindsey's Olympic success. Or was it a jealous Micah? Perhaps the father of Lindsey's unborn child? How about her suffocating boyfriend? The red herrings are cleverly deployed, and the chilly voice of the unseen narrator is stylishly effective. Hardcore mystery fans, though, are unlikely to be seduced by Phillips' literary chops when they recognize plot holes big enough to drive an SUV through (for instance, what kind of autopsy misses a pregnancy?). While this stumbles as a whodunit, it may nonetheless please YAs drawn to the psychological theme of recovered memory.