S&S Book Club: Alafair Burke’s If You Were Here
Carol & Tina chat about Carol’s pick: Alafair Burke’s If You Were Here
Our website is supported by you, our readers. We sometimes earn a commission when you click through the affiliate links on our website. We appreciate your support.
Why Carol Picked It
Alafair Burke’s If You Were Here is exactly what a thriller should be.
Journalist McKenna Jordan is chasing down the story of a woman who saved a teenaged boy by pulling him from the subway tracks seconds before a train arrives. The woman runs off but is caught on a cellphone camera. When McKenna gets a look at the video, she’s shocked to find the woman looks like a close friend and former roommate, who disappeared without a trace ten years ago. The woman, Susan, was also a college classmate of McKenna’s husband.
McKenna is unable to let the past stay buried. She insists the police re-open the unsolved case and launches an investigation of her own. McKenna has no idea of the chaos she’s about to unleash.
Alafair Burke’s skill at creating mounting tension and all-enveloping suspense is second to none. Her characters are complex and beautifully flawed, but we can relate to them. The book is filled with wonderfully crafted twists and turns to keep you turning the pages to keep you guessing.
This was my first time reading this author. I loved this book so much I’ve since read all her standalones, her Ellie Hatcher series, and the Samantha Kincaid series. I can’t wait for her next book.
Check out Alafair Burke, you’ll be glad you did.
But, don’t make plans for the morning...you’ll be reading long into the night.
What Tina Thought
I don’t read many thrillers, I’m more of a traditional mystery reader, but I read If You Were Here by Alafair Burke based on Carol’s recommendation.
This is an involved book and a tad longer than most, which gives the reader plenty of time to invest in the characters and internalize the stakes. Sometimes a thriller or a mystery will tell us why the stakes are high, but Burke has us live them.
Despite the label of suspense or thriller, I found this book to be a slow-burning story, but in a good way because I happen to love slow-burners. If You Were Here still had mounting tension but it was so evenly paced that it crept up on you which, in my opinion, is the best kind of tension. I did occasionally lose track of some of the players’ names and roles, always a danger with an involved story, but a quick flip back resolved that problem pretty easily.
Carol has it right, Burke’s characters are so well fleshed out that I felt that I knew them when I closed the back cover. I particularly enjoyed the flaws and the missteps - the same types of mistakes we all make.
This was also my first pass at reading Alafair Burke. I enjoyed it and look forward to starting one of her series next.
