The Underwood Tapes

December 1, 2024
A grieving teen travels to the small town her late mother was from in this mystery that's shot through with strands of speculative fiction. Since the accident six months earlier that killed her mom and seriously injured her, 18-year-old Grace Crain has been nursing scars, both literal and figurative. Spending the summer at her uncle Aaron's in Hermitage, Florida, appeals in part because her mother never went back to her hometown, so it doesn't hold painful memories of her for Grace. However, she's unprepared for how many people she's never met seem to be aware of her. Grace gets to know first cousin Lara and third cousin Griffin, with whom she's working at the municipal historical society. But when she's assigned to transcribe cassette tapes recorded in the early 1990s by Jake Underwood, a boy who was around her age, Grace discovers something startling: She can communicate with Jake through the tapes--and in the process, she learns that the sleepy town is harboring many secrets. The teens' ability to communicate across time simply exists with no real explanation. The engaging mystery surrounding a natural disaster and a tragic death propels the story toward its distinctly understated ending, but the real focus is on the friendship Grace forms with Jake. Grace presents white; there's some racial diversity among the secondary characters, including Lara, who has "dark tan" skin from her mom. An intriguing blend of thrilling and more quiet and contemplative elements.(Mystery. 13-18)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 1, 2024
Grades 8-12 In 2022, 18-year-old Grace is grieving the death of her mother. She takes a summer job in her mother's coastal Florida hometown, transcribing archival cassette tapes for the Hermitage Historical Society. One morning, she listens to Jake Underwood, the teen volunteer who recorded the tapes in 1991, read the founding document of Hurricane Club, established in 1968. Jake goes off-script when he sees his uncle's name; no one knew why his uncle Charley went out in the storm that killed him, but other members of the club must have been there. Who were they, and why did they bury the truth? Grace records a response, launching a correspondence across time. As Grace investigates and learns that Jake also died in a hurricane in 1992, she needs to make a decision: can she stand up to the families holding onto their secrets and save Jake? DeWitt shines with a character-driven, emotional mystery that tests the veil between past and present. Intriguingly supernatural, this moving novel on grief and healing features supportive, platonic friendships and a protagonist worth rooting for.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 11, 2024
Six months after her mother’s death, 18-year-old Grace Crain spends the summer in her mother’s hometown of Hermitage, Fla. While working as an intern at the local historical society, she transcribes cassette tapes recorded in the ’90s by a boy her age, Jake Underwood. She soon realizes that if she records herself speaking on the other side of the tapes, Jake can hear her 30 years in the past. The two begin talking, and as they bond over their parallel experiences with grief, they also uncover a secret lying beneath the surface of Hermitage—one that spans five decades and involves some of the most important people in town, who may have played a part in the deaths of Jake’s father and uncle. Through Grace’s assuredly written voice, DeWitt (Wren Martin Ruins It All) deftly balances an examination of grief and healing with a gradually unfolding small-town mystery. Though Grace’s relationships with other major supporting characters—such as her cousin and a coworker—are somewhat threadbare, the story stands out in its depiction of emotional intellect; intriguing supernatural elements add texture. Grace cues as white; the secondary cast is intersectionally diverse. Ages 14–up. Agent: Cate Hart, Harvey Klinger Literary.