In Don't Forget the Girl, short story writer Rebecca McKanna's perceptive first novel, two women wrestle with years-old guilt, exploring whether or not their friend who disappeared 12 years ago was the victim of a serial killer who's about to be executed--while also wondering if they could have protected her. Abby Hartmann was an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Iowa when she vanished Halloween night after walking away from her two best friends, Bree Hadley and Chelsea Navarro, during an argument. They are sure she became another victim of Jon Allan Blue, a Ted Bundyesque killer scheduled to be executed in 25 days. Blue never admitted Abby was among his victims; the police focused on his more sensational murders. Estranged for years, Bree and Chelsea put aside their grudges to work with a popular podcaster dedicating the next season to Blue's murders. The women are determined to uphold Abby's memory and to see that she is counted among Blue's victims.
McKanna, who layers realistic suspense and plot twists, elevates her insightful character studies with crackling dialogue and complex friendships. Abby's presumed murder affected her friends differently. Bree drinks excessively, apathetically teaches photography at a small college--"Photography used to be a hunger. Now it seems like something hanging over her head"--and has an emotionless affair with a student. Now married, Chelsea is an Episcopal priest, still worried that her clandestine affair with Abby contributed to her vanishing. Don't Forget the Girl is memorable. --Oline H. Cogdill, freelance reviewer