Three estranged siblings reunite after their mother passes away to bury her and sort out her estate. Beth, the oldest, never left home and stayed with her mom, caring for her until the very end, and was there when she passed. Nicole, the middle child, has been out of the picture after numerous attempts by Beth to try and get her clean from an ongoing battle with drug addiction that started after a bad car accident. Michael, the youngest, and most successful of all the children lives out of state and hasn’t returned to their small Wisconsin town since their father unexpectedly left his family without a trace seven years ago.

Tension is high, and it gets even worse while going through their parents’ belongings. They come across a collection of home videos and decide to revisit those happier memories. However, the nostalgia is cut short when one of the VHS tapes from 1999 that none of them have any recollection of. In the video, their father appears to be covered in blood. What follows is a dead body of a missing 12-year-old girl from the neighborhood dated when she was found to be missing and their parents panic to get rid of it, then the video abruptly ends.

One girl is still missing according to the town and her family (presumed dead), one missing teenage girl, and one missing adult (their father). Was their father responsible for the dead girl? The video doesn't explain what happened in the recorded short clip. What secret did their mother take to the grave? All Beth knows before her brother and sister arrived, before she took her last breath are the last few words her mother struggled to say.

"Your father... He didn't... Dis...appear. Don't... trust..."

Those few words Beth kept to herself and didn't tell her siblings because:
1. It didn't make sense, and
2. She didn't know WHO not to trust.

Beth, Nicole, and Michael must decide what to do with this information. Leave the past in the past or uncover the dark secret their mother took to her grave. Even worse, the girl who was clearly dead in that video was Beth's high school sweetheart, and his family to this day have no idea what happened to her as there wasn't any evidence of where she was and there wasn't a body to bury. Confusion is high and they aren't sure what to do with this information. Do they keep their parents secret? Where is their father? It seems this is why he left long ago, but why did he wait to disappear? As Beth and Nicole go over her things, little clues are found.

This book was a trip. Messy family drama, a small town mystery, and the missing parent and possibly their mother who knows the truth behind the death of that girl but took that information to the grave. Or did she?

Read the book to find out!

Home Is Where the Bodies Are - Likewise Book Reviews

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