Leave No Trace

Leave No Trace by Mindy Mejia   336 pages

When this book was first listed on Bookishfirst.com, I decided to pass on it. The cover, the title, nor the jacket copy did much for me. Then I started reading some of the reviews that were posted, and I changed my mind. Fortunately I was able to snag a copy.

It’s been ten years since Josiah and Lucas Blackwell were last seen in upper Minnesota. They were known to spend inordinate amounts of time in the Boundary Water, probably the remotest sections of wilderness left in the Lower 48. Searches turned up nothing except a ravaged campfire and the supposition that the two were killed by bears.

Now nineteen, Lucas is caught trying to raid an outfitter’s store. He kills one of the owners and injures the other. Completely uncommunicative with police, he is sent to Codgen mental hospital. There he makes no attempts to speak, if he still can, until he recognizes Maya Stark, a new young assistant speech therapist. He whispers to her, “I know you.” This statement throws Maya, as she does not recognize the young man.

As time goes by, Maya makes a connection with the speechless young man; she is the only one he trusts. Maya feels the connection also, but can’t really explain it, other than empathy. Maya and Lucas both suffer from mother issues. Maya abandoned by choice, Lucas abandoned by fate. Lucas’s main goal now is to get back to his father. Maya chooses to help him, regardless of what it will cost her professionally or personally.

This book is full of surprises. Lucas can be missing one moment and turn up the next. The plot is compelling, full of twists, almost on every page. The middle third drug a tad, and that’s why “Leave No Trace,” which receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.