Review Detail

WHERE ECHOES DIE is an intriguing YA suspense/mystery. Sisters Beck and Riley have traveled to a small town called Backravel, Arizona, which was one of the last places where their mother was investigating. As a journalist, she would chase down stories, and Backravel was a place that she was visiting routinely before her death. When a note arrived asking them to come find her, Beck brings Riley with her to see what is happening in Backravel and discover what her mother had been doing there.

Once they arrive in town, they notice many strange things about the town, including the residents who seem unusually forgetful. There are no cemeteries or churches and visitors must take the tour when they arrive. A gleaming treatment center stands over the town, and Beck knows that she will need to find out what is happening there to understand what her mother had been investigating.

What I loved: This was an interesting premise with an atmospheric and unusual small town that was clearly hiding some big secrets. As Beck looks into it and what her mother was doing there, things only begin to seem stranger and stranger, with memories becoming a trigger for many of the residents. This is complicated by the feelings Beck begins to develop for Avery, the town leader's daughter who seems to know more than other residents do, and is clearly hiding some big secrets. With a mysterious desert woman to add to the complications and a mysterious illness that Beck and Riley seem to catch, their two weeks planned there will be anything but simple.

Beck had been parentified from a young age due to her parents' divorce and her mother's absent-mindedness. She has been carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, and this is exemplified by her actions in Backravel. Other themes around grief/loss, coping with pain, the power of memories, and family were also thought-provoking in the course of the story.

What left me wanting more: The story felt a bit winding at times and answers are very slow to come. This left a lot for a bit of a data dump later in the story, and I think I would have liked to approach it more gradually, to keep the reader hooked into finding out the next twist. As it was, it became a story that was easy to put down as it felt like it was meandering in places. The relationship between Beck and Riley was interesting but became very background in favor of Avery and the mysteries she was chasing down. I was expecting a bit more plot around sisterhood, but this was a very background theme/concept in the story.

Final verdict: WHERE ECHOES DIE was an intriguing YA mystery/suspense with a bit of sci-fi/fantasy elements and thought-provoking themes. I would recommend for readers who enjoy a slow-building town mystery, along the lines of WHERE DARKNESS BLOOMS and IN NIGHTFALL.