The Forgotten Memories of Vera Glass by Anna Priemaza

What worked:

The plot creates mystery from the beginning to get readers thinking and wondering. Vera’s brother disappears while helping her make dinner, but the mysterious part is no one realizes he’s gone. No one remembers he even existed, although Vera has a nagging feeling that something’s missing in her life. Shortly after, a boy in her small group of friends disappears and she gets that same unexplainable sense that something’s amiss. None of her friends, teachers, or parents remember the boy ever existed. The unease gets to the point where Vera decides to figure out what’s going on, and that leads into the meat of the story.

The story is told from Vera’s point of view, which helps since she’s the one character readers know won’t disappear. It’s important to know what she’s thinking and feeling, since these hunches are the backbone of the story. It’s nice that Vera’s not interested in sex and drinking like many other novels focusing on high school students. The interesting twist to the plot is Vera’s investigation of the problem. It’s difficult to research a problem when she can’t identify the problem itself. She’s the first character to feel like something’s missing in her life, and she’s the most motivated to uncover why she has these feelings. The author does a masterful job of slowly revealing the answer to that question, and she hides the revelation until the plot nears its climax.

Every character, actually every person, has one magical ability. Vera is able to open any lock, although she thinks it’s only useful if she chooses a life as a robber. Her best friend Riven’s magical talent deals with manipulating light, and her mother has intuition magic. Vera’s parents work at a research facility, and scientists there are studying a possible link between magical abilities and dark matter. Her parents constantly say they can’t talk about any projects, and Vera wonders what’s actually going on at the facility. She wonders if the nothingness she feels is being caused by someone’s ability, or maybe there are different dimensions of life. Faith in God is addressed in the story, although the plot isn’t overly religious.

What didn’t work as well:

The resolution of the problem is satisfying, although it leaves some unanswered questions. Namely, we discover why the characters disappear, but we don’t know where they disappear to. This may sound like a big problem for readers, but the overall story is very entertaining and enjoyable.

The Final Verdict:

How do you find something you don’t know is missing? The author creates an imaginative mystery that will keep readers riveted to their seats. Characters slowly disappear and leave voids in the lives of families and friends. I highly recommend you give this book a shot; you won’t be disappointed.