REVIEW: "Salthouse Place" By Jamie Sogn
I can’t help but wonder if, in the future, high school reunions are even going to be a thing.
Just this morning, my husband mentioned that his grandfather was going to be attending a high school reunion. Despite being out of high school over 20 years myself, I have never attended one of my own.
I just feel like I can connect with all of the old classmates who I actually want to know something about via social media. Those I don’t follow — or those who don’t follow me — probably weren’t good enough friends, anyway, to warrant my concern. The one obvious exception to this rule is the *just too cool* boy from high school honors English who I always harbored a crush on but absolutely never friend requested *because doing so would be just so uncool*. I’ll never know what has become of him 😢. Edited - Okay, actually I now do know what has become of him. Thanks, Google. He is still a rad dude. Way too cool for me to friend request.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand.
I’m likely ruminating on this idea right now because I just finished Salthouse Place, Jamie Lee Sogn’s debut novel. Though this thriller does not feature a high school reunion, the bonds our protagonist built in her youth — along with the trauma she suffered — are integral to the plot.
The Plot
Delia Ablio will never forget the day she lost one of her childhood best friends to the cruel waters of a local lake. She aspires to not allow this trauma from her youth to impact her present, and she is reasonably successful. That all changes when she receives an out-of-the-blue email from the other remaining member of her childhood friendship trio, Cara. Though she hasn’t talked to this friend in years, Delia leaps at the opportunity to return to her hometown and go on a coffee date with her. Maybe, she reasons, they can come together around their shared trauma to the benefit of both of them.
But, when Delia returns to her hometown, she finds Cara missing. Cara’s brother, Tom, requests Delia’s help in locating his sister. Delia agrees because, despite the passing of years, she still feels a closeness to Cara she cannot deny. Delia quickly discovers that Cara’s disappearance is far from simple. Prior to going missing, Cara had gotten herself entangled in a cult-like women’s wellness group called Artemis. When it becomes clear that the only way to get more information out of Artemis is to infiltrate the very group that could be responsible for her friend’s disappearance, Delia must decide how much risk she is willing to take on to find this former friend.
The Good
Salthouse Place is one of those books that you just can’t stop reading. Were it not the beginning of the school year and were I not — tragically and unfairly — limited in my reading time due to my job as a school administrator, I would have finished it in a day. When I was reading it, I was completely absorbed in the world of the book. When I was not reading it, I was thinking about when I would next be able to pick it up.
Likely contributing to the overall unputdownableness of this book was the fact that it was loaded with twists. In the world of this novel, nothing was as it seemed and everything was subject to sudden change. Even more impressive, though they were unexpected, most of the twists (see below for the exception) were believable.
The Bad
*Spoilers* While I found most of this book to be believable, I faltered at the very end. At one point, a key character — almost without provocation — candidly revealed a long-hidden truth. While it’s true that this reveal was somewhat necessary to tying up all the loose ends, and the information that was revealed made the plot even more robust, I really struggled to believe that s/he would have essentially blurted out a secret that s/he had kept for decades.
The Rating
Salthouse Place is distinctive, engaging, and tragic. If The Change, Girls, and Our Little World had a baby, that baby would be Salthouse Place. Despite the *slight* believability hiccup at the end, this book is an absolute winner.
It earns 5 out of 5 cocktails.
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