A review by healingtothemax
If You're Out There, by Katy Loutzenhiser

3.0

Intriguing concept, likable characters, fast-paced and evocative prose, fun dialogue and execution for the most part is on target in this well-written YA contemporary mystery. It's a common occurrence yet a topic rarely discussed: a female friendship breaks due to unexplained circumstances (not death) and the fallout feeling spiral afterwards. Such a breakup hurts as badly and even worse than a romantic breakup for the bonds of connection have been severed. Worse is when the wounded party searches through the rubble of what-was in puzzling out the why's of what-now-is. Family and friends can't help the grief stages one must go through alone. Debut author Katy Loutzenhiser conveys the pain caused when one BF moves away then stops answering the other BF's electronic calls (emails, texts, social media). Our heroine's growing misery over the mystery of why her friend ditched is conveyed through her increasingly desperate, obsessive behavior. Only a new friend - in the form of a romantic interest, the hot new guy in town who has his own secrets - helps our girl in her solo sleuthing. (That plot choice in itself is ripe for analysis!) Interesting supporting characters abound in school, work, and two divided households. But the gal-pal disappearing act dominates the plot and our heroine never does what everyone insists she must do: accept, let go and move on to live her life. The writer rewards her heroine's doggedness, the safer choice. Cleverly seeded clues blossom into splashy reveals - too big - in the third act. The final confrontation is a letdown; the characters' casual attitudes at such a shocking discovery after a book bursting with heart-breaking angst undermines the dramatic tension built by the mystery's clue-gathering. When the big confrontation arrives, the book's hidden theme is revealed: another adult made a bad decision that their kid paid the price for. Overall IYOT left this reader puzzling out the mystery's shady characters and murky reasons but enjoying the writer's skills in steering her audience through friendship's rocky landscape.

[SecondStar Debut Author Launch Box March 2019 edition]