*Spoiler free*
Monday Charles is missing, and only Claudia seems to notice. Claudia and Monday have always been inseparable—more sisters than friends. So when Monday doesn’t turn up for the first day of school, Claudia’s worried. When she doesn’t show for the second day, or second week, Claudia knows that something is wrong. Monday wouldn’t just leave her to endure tests and bullies alone. Not after last year’s rumors and not with her grades on the line. Now Claudia needs her best—and only—friend more than ever. But Monday’s mother refuses to give Claudia a straight answer, and Monday’s sister April is even less help. As Claudia digs deeper into her friend’s disappearance, she discovers that no one seems to remember the last time they saw Monday. How can a teenage girl just vanish without anyone noticing that she’s gone?
After finishing Allegedly, I was ready to read every single Tiffany D. Jackson novel that’s out. I had stumbled across Monday’s Not Coming back right before it came out/right after it came out and put it on my list of books I was interested in reading eventually. So, that, and the fact that it sounded like it would be horrifying and fascinating, made it seem like a great book to follow up Allegedly. Trigger warnings: physical abuse, alcohol, grief, mentions of miscarriages
Tiffany D. Jackson is a genius. That’s the very simple version of this review. But, I’m going to try and give you the longer version as well.
Alright, I’m staring with the writing, because I think that’s a major reason her books are as effective at what they do as they are. Her writing has this flowy quality to it that makes it easy to fly through her books. It ups investion and lowers guards, allowing the clues to slip by almost unnoticed, but not so unnoticed that the pieces don’t click together. But they don’t click together until Jackson wants them to, and that’s another reason this book is so effective.
OH I GET WHY I LOVE THESE BOOKS SO MUCH. This book deals with horrifying, gut wrenching subjects. It’s not an easy read. There are terrible, horrible things happening right in front of your eyes. But, the story is told in a gentle sort of way, everything about the story told with care. This allows connections to be made with the characters. I fell in love with Claudia and I fell in love with Monday. The characters were handled with just as much care as the story, the thriller part, and the mystery, and it makes the book’s impact land all the harder. It made me care so much more about what was happening. I wasn’t just reading to find out what would happen, I was reading because I cared about where the characters would end up and how the events happening would affect them. Jackson knows how to write thrillers, but she also knows how to write characters.
This book is also a fantastic example of how to write a non-chronological book. Wow, the way the timelines diverged and converged and warped the story. I seriously can’t say more than this because I’m very, very close to spoiler territory, but this is where Jackson’s genius truly shines.
This book was gut wrenching. It’s hard to watch the events play out because it can be so obvious what’s happening, but so not obvious at the same time. I know my reviews for these books are short, but that’s how these books make me feel. These books are sharp, and they jab you quickly. So, of course I highly recommend them if you feel you’re able to handle the content! Because Monday’s Not Coming is truly amazing.
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