So it turns out that Unspeakable Things, by Jess Lourey, was inspired by a true story from the author’s hometown. This makes me love it even more! Cassie lives on a farm in Minnesota in the 1980s. She’s made to work the farm, and her dad is hard on her and her sister. But this life seems normal to them. Though her parents have strange parties with strange guests.
Soon, things in their town change drastically. One by one, local boys go missing. When they return, they’re violent, moody, and withdrawn. What happened to them? Who did this to them? Well, the rumors are swirling.
Cassie does her best to get to the bottom of this, but she’s only a young girl in an adult world with strange things happening everywhere. And worse off, Cassie seems to be terrified of her own father. So much so that she sleeps in her closet. How sad is that? And how sad that her mom fails to protect her.
I loved how Cassie learns at the end how naïve she had been, especially when her favorite aunt visits and flirts with her dad.