Thriller Annotation: Disappearing Earth


Disappearing Earth

by Julia Phillips
Published May 14th 2019 by Knopf
ISBN-13: 9780525520412
Hardcover, 264 pages

Synopsis

In the small seaside city of Kamchatka on the Siberian Peninsula two young sisters are wasting an afternoon on the rocky outcropping of beach near the city center.  Their abduction spins into many versions of the tale, from numerous perspectives as everyone in the area has their own pieces of the puzzle to add.  Each new bit of information leads to the suspense of what really happened in the community and more generally abroad throughout the Peninsula.  Tensions of race and culture abound as other cases of missing women are brought into question.  Who is this heartless kidnapper?  Is he a serial murderer?  Were they kidnapped at all, or just swept into the ocean at high tide? 
This smartly written novel will keep you turning pages until the last moment. 

Key Elements of Thrillers

  • Tense atmosphere with a rapid pace- In Disappearing Earth this is achieved through separate approaches of the case from multiple angles building a full picture without the characters reaching their own answers and then jumping to a new perspective.
  •  A complicated plot- The payoff for the reader is in following the plot through to the end as the rapid pace often leads to more questions than answers.
  • A completely built and politically charged world- The world of Kamchatka will not be familiar to most readers, but the sense of a small community being torn by racial allegiances versus the unfamiliar native outsiders has a contemporary resonance.
  • An overarching sense of darkness and foreboding- Disappearing Earth’s placement in the bitter cold of Siberia with its long, dark winter nights lends the novel a unique and compellingly dark view of the world and makes the reader question the people in it.  

Read-Alikes:

These titles feature strong female story-lines and from female authors with a strong
sense of place and literary thriller characteristics of plot, like Disappearing Earth.


The Dead Girls Club
by Damien Angelica Walters
Published December 10th 2019
by Crooked Lane Books
ISBN13: 9781643851631

Hardcover, 280 pages



The Honey Farm
by Harriet Alida Lye
Published May 29th 2018
by Liveright
ISBN13: 9781631494345
Hardcover, 328 pages

Comments

  1. Carmen ClarkJanuary 31, 2020 at 6:49 AM

    This book sounds SO interesting! I appreciated your short, detailed synopsis without giving too much of the plot away. Definitely adding this to my list of future reads! I also have The Dead Girls Club on my list. That was one of my choices for this week but our copy was out :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BC RunionJanuary 31, 2020 at 1:42 PM

      Dead Girls Club has been on my TBR for SO LONG- and I am probably going to have to buy it because the hold list on our copy is outrageously long.

      Delete
  2. RachelFebruary 2, 2020 at 5:58 PM

    I heard about this book on the Book Riot podcast and it sounded so intriguing! I don't usually read suspense but hearing them discuss the book and the Kamchatka peninsula really made me consider adding it to my TBR. And now after reading your annotations, I think it's a done deal. I want to learn more about the area and the culture and it sounds like a good story!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Erin CataldiFebruary 3, 2020 at 12:45 PM

    Great job on your annotation! Your summary has me wanting more! Your key elements also look spot on. Full points!

    ReplyDelete

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