Book Notices | Open House by Katie Sise

Katie Sise, Open House

Amazon   A decade before the book opens, art student Emma McCullough disappeared during a college party. Now, Emma's younger sister Haley is a student at the school herself. Her father holds out hope that Emma is still out there somewhere, but everyone else thinks she's dead. There's no physical evidence one way or the other until the discovery of Emma's bracelet in the woods near the school breaks the case of her disappearance open. Open House is centered on Haley and the gradual revelation of information about Emma's disappearance in the present day, but the modern story is interspersed with chapters describing events from Emma's perspective. Initially, I found the cast of characters and their incestuous relationships a little overwhelming: Haley is the student of Brad, who's the husband of Priya, who was the teacher of Emma and Josie, Emma's friend and Haley's real estate agent, who's married to Noah, who used to date Emma, and so on. Eventually one becomes familiar with the relationships, but it's a lot to take in at first. The book is an okay read, but not one I'm likely to remember for long.