The Undercurrent - by Sarah Sawyer

About the Book

New mom Bee returns to her hometown of Austin, Texas, after her childhood friend Leo resurfaces and draws her back into the past. While there, she becomes consumed with the need to uncover the truth about a neighbor girl who went missing, a case long since gone cold.

Book Synopsis

"A mystery of remarkable scope, bristling with intelligence, beauty, and humanity. It is, quite simply: stunning." --Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl

"A stunning, achingly beautiful and gripping mystery. Full of page-turning suspense, intrigue, and secrets...I loved it." --Chris Whitaker, author of All the Colors of the Dark

"Delve into a thrilling novel where dark secrets and hidden agendas intertwine, keeping you on the edge of your seat with every twist and turn." --E! Online

An Apple Books Best Debut of 2024
Fall 2025 Reading Group Indie Next Pick
19th Annual National Indies Excellence Awards Finalist

An overwhelmed new mother becomes obsessed with the unsolved disappearance of a young girl from her small Texas hometown--and unearths her own family's dark secret.

It's 2011 and the decades-old case of Deecie Jeffries's disappearance in Austin, Texas, is still cold. New mom Bee, struggling with postpartum depression, is living in Portland, Maine, having left Austin--and those memories--far behind. Until Leo, her childhood crush and her estranged twin Gus's best friend, suddenly resurfaces, drawing Bee back into their shared past.

Bee's predictable life is upended, pushing her to return to her childhood home and piece together a neighborhood's shattered history. She becomes consumed with a need to uncover the truth about Deecie's disappearance and what happened to the families who lived across the field from one another--Gus, Leo, and their mothers: Mary, a homemaker, whose only escape is the local community theater, and Diana, a serious academic dedicated to her studies.

Told from multiple perspectives and timelines, The Undercurrent is a gripping portrait of motherhood, broken family bonds, and buried secrets.

Review Quotes

"A layered excavation of family secrets, misconceptions and the extreme measures mothers will take to protect their children. The novel features big emotions . . . and a final, shocking twist."
--Sarah Lyall, New York Times

"A gripping and emotional domestic suspense novel that explores the complex trials and tribulations of motherhood from three female perspectives . . . The taut prose and complex narrative structure illustrate the three women's loyalties, sacrifices, longings, and ambitions, illustrating how they are forced to make difficult choices and embrace their womanhood."
--Booklist (starred review)

"Sawyer constructs a spellbinding mystery as she toggles between timelines and the viewpoints of three very different mothers. This one leaves a mark."
--Publishers Weekly

"Delve into a thrilling novel where dark secrets and hidden agendas intertwine, keeping you on the edge of your seat with every twist and turn."
-E! Online

"The Undercurrent is a mystery of remarkable scope, bristling with intelligence, beauty, and humanity. It is, quite simply: stunning."
--Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl

"A stunning, achingly beautiful and gripping mystery. Full of page-turning suspense, intrigue, and secrets, The Undercurrent is also a heartfelt story of family, childhood, and the nature of obsession. I loved it."
--Chris Whitaker, author of All the Colors of the Dark

"Brilliant...I read The Undercurrent like I was under a spell, accompanied only by my own goosebumps. It's a book about being a mother--in all the dull, punishing, and stunning ways--but then there's also a...chilling mystery at its core. Pure glinty, flinty, propulsive perfection."
--Catherine Newman, author of We All Want Impossible Things

"With The Undercurrent, Sarah Sawyer puts a spell on her reader. The story is immersive and taut, with an increasing sense of unease that kept me turning the pages. I wanted to know what happened next because of the mystery at the center of the book but also because I came to care deeply for these characters--a testament to Sawyer's lyrical and tender depiction of them. I read the last chapters with my heart in my throat. Readers of Tana French will love this literary page turner."
--Kate Hope Day, author of In the Quick

"Sarah Sawyer takes us on a gorgeous, twisting voyage through a shadowed landscape of memory and mystery. The Undercurrent truly carried me away. This is a shimmering debut."
--Debra Jo Immergut, author of You Again

About the Author

Sarah Sawyer is an English teacher at a boarding school in western Massachusetts. She is a graduate of Amherst College and the Bread Loaf School of English, and lives in Easthampton, Massachusetts, with her family. The Undercurrent is her first novel.