When We Vanished
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When Andi Lin overhears details about a harmful research study at the food corporation Nutrexo, she’s instantly worried that her dad is involved. He left home to participate in one of the company’s clinical trials, and was in frequent contact at first—but her recent attempts to reach him have been met with silence. Fearing he may be in danger, Andi sets out to investigate. She finds an unlikely ally in her neighbor Cyrus, whose mother once worked for Nutrexo and is hiding secrets of her own. Their search for answers leads them to the head scientist at Nutrexo’s confidential research facility, where they learn that the truth is more complicated—and more devastating—than they ever could have imagined. This captivating debut is at once a page-turning thriller, a contemporary coming-of-age story, and a thought-provoking look at the consequences of our desires for power, success, and control.
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I acquired a copy of this arc through Netgallery
I downloaded this off of Netgallery on a whim and I'm really glad I did because this was good.
The story follows Andi as her dad leaves their family to take part in a secret research project at a food company, at the same time Andi overhears about a dangerous research project conducted by the same company at a party. Fearing her father is involved in this dangerous project Andi enlists the help of her neighbour, Cyrus, and together they try to find out what's going on. Their investigation leads them to a confidential research facility and to it's head scientist. The truth they uncover there is far more dangerous than either of them had imagined.
The book follows four perspectives: Andi, Roya, Naveed and Cyrus. All four of them had very distinct voices with their own strengths and flaws, and none of them bled in to each other. My favourite to read from was Roya's as it was so distinct and her style of thought is different from a lot of what I've read before. Whilst I enjoyed three out of four of these perspectives, I could not enjoy Cyrus's. Cyrus is a well-written character but he was not my cup of tea and I found him to be quite unlikeble.
There was also a focus on mental health, and whilst nothing was ever officially diagnosed in the narrative, it was clear what each character was suffering from and it was well handled. The author never brushed it under the rug but they didn't dramatise it either.
The book also contained themes I haven't seen very often in YA surrounding clean eating, addictive substances in food, animal welfare and antibiotic resitant bugs. I think most of these were handled resally well and whilst I would have liked to have seen greater depth on these topics, I don't want to judge the author too harshly as this is only the first book in a series.
Whilst most of this was well-written, the book did have it's problems. I didn't enjoy the main romance as it was underdeveloped and the two characters lacked any real chemistry or passion, and it fet very unecessary. I also think the antagonist could have been more fleshed out a little bit more and felt sometimes a little underveloped.
Overall, it's a solid YA book and a great start to a series. I would recommend it if you enjoy fast-paced books or the themese I have mentioned.
Read my full review here: https://moonlitbooks.home.blog/2020/05/31/whenwevanished/