Evidence Of Life

There are some books that are gripping, even as they are sad and filled with the greatest fears a parent can face. Evidence of Life by Barbara Taylor Sissel takes those fears and magnifies them with suspense and grief beyond what most people could bear. Abby is your normal mother of two – one in college and one sixteen year old – married to a man who provides for them comfortably.

When Nick goes camping with their daughter Lindsay, leaving Jake behind because he has studying to do for finals, Abby is a little reluctant as she’s heard that bad weather is coming, but Nick brushes her off. When Abby receives a phone call she can barely understand of Libby in the bathroom of a Shell gas station, learning that they’d spent the night in a hotel not on their route and that Abby is crying and saying something about her dad, Abby panics.

She’s unable to get ahold of Nick or Abby again after that, and historic torrential rains have come in the hill country where they were headed. Roads are washed out, all rivers have flooded, and many people are missing and dead. Still there is no word from Nick or Lindsay. Abby drives to her friend’s ranch that happens to be on high ground and is rescue central for the area given its lack of flooding.

Abby’s Jeep Cherokee that Nick had been driving isn’t found, nor are their bodies. As the flood recedes and months pass, Abby continues to search for evidence that her family is still alive. She receives phone calls that she swears are Lindsay. Her house has lights on that she hadn’t left on and dirt tracked in not by her. And there is suspicion that Nick has worked with another lawyer to embezzle money from a class action lawsuit settlement and disappeared with him.

Abby believes none of the rumors and does her best to find out what happened, though she has little to go on. Everyone else in her life presses for her to move forward and accept that her family is gone, partly to protect her from what they know and partly because they’ve given up hope.

She can’t. And that’s part of what is so gripping about the book. It’s hard to read because she continues down the same paths over and over trying to find the truth in what appears to be a hopeless case. It’s heartbreaking to see her as she is stuck, grieving but not grieving because she doesn’t believe they’re dead. Unlike most books where the characters grow within them, Abby doesn’t. She is stuck in the same patterns and personalities – with their flaws and strengths – that she was in the beginning of the book.

And yet it was gripping. The subject matter is a fresh take from what I typically read, and it is well written. It doesn’t follow a standard plot where you can predict what comes next, so there is an impetus to continue to turn the pages, as frustrating as seeing little to no progress made as months pass – but that’s the point of the book, and I appreciate it.

Michelle is grateful that – to date – nothing so traumatic has happened to her family. There is always drama with two chldren, however, and you can read about it on her blog Honest & Truly! or follow along with her on Twitter where she is also @HonestAndTruly.