Leave No Trace: A Novel

Mindy Mejia

Sep 2018 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

“Dark and atmospheric, with palpably vivid details and complex characters harboring plenty of secrets” (Kimberly Belle, internationally bestselling author of The Marriage Lie), this riveting and suspenseful thriller—by the author of the critically acclaimed Everything You Want Me to Be—follows the mysterious disappearance of a boy and his stunning return ten years later.

There is a place in Minnesota with hundreds of miles of glacial lakes and untouched forests called the Boundary Waters. Ten years ago, a man and his son trekked into this wilderness and never returned.

Search teams found their campsite ravaged by what looked like a bear. They were presumed dead until a decade later...the son reappears. Discovered while ransacking an outfitter store, he is violent and uncommunicative and is sent to a psychiatric facility. Maya Stark, the assistant language therapist, is charged with making a connection with the high-profile patient. No matter how hard she tries, he refuses to answer questions about his father or the last ten years of his life.

But Maya, who was abandoned by her own mother, has secrets, too. And as she’s drawn closer to this enigmatic boy who is no longer a boy, she’ll risk everything to reunite him with his father who has disappeared from the known world.

With breathless pacing and edge-of-your-seat twists and turns, “Leave No Trace is as thrilling as whitewater rapids and as dark as the Minnesotan wilderness itself” (Amy Gentry, internationally bestselling author of Good as Gone).

Ratings and reviews

I love her writing, it is just the subject matter that was not compelling and the idea a speech therapist would be assigned this type of case is absolutely ridiculous. She is a good writer, but this book needed some changes to really be awesome. I still will read this author in the future because I do think she is very talented. I read another book from her about a young woman in highschool and it was really a great book.

Leave No Trace is an interesting enough story and maybe my definition of a thriller is different than the author's, but I didn't find one here. There is suspense and quite a lot of dangling carrots throughout that hint at answers, but the pacing is very slow and those answers take their sweet time coming. I realize this is fiction and certain allowances can be made, but this one requires more suspension of disbelief than what I would consider reasonable. To make matters worse, I didn't find Maya particularly interesting. She's rather bland as far as a protagonist goes, other than the sheer number of times she manages to be hurt by Lucas in his many attempts to escape. And that's just one thing that stretched the imagination. I can't imagine a speech therapist being left alone with a dangerous or violent patient even once, let alone repeatedly. The only saving grace in this one for me was Josiah. His chapters are very well done and are quite compelling, but about halfway through, I realized I was just plunging through hoping for another of his chapters. The author does have talent, but this one missed the mark for me.

Nineteen-year-old Lucas Blackthorn and his father disappeared in the Minnesota Boundary Waters wilderness, ten-years ago. They were both assumed dead. But when Lucas Blackthorn ransacked a nearby outfitter store, the search for his father resumed. Lucas was sent to a nearby psychiatric hospital. He was mute and unresponsive. Assistant speech therapist, Maya Stark was assigned to work with Lucas Blackthorn. The staff at the hospital were amazed when Maya received an immediate response from Lucas. It baffled everyone, but Lucas, as to why he would connect with Maya, and no one else. Against hospital rules, Maya became emotionally involved with Lucas. She became his ally, and crossed professional lines, risking her job, her heart, and her future. Lucas needed to find his father. Maya did too, but not for the same reason. Maya had her own secrets and agenda. She wanted answers. Leave No Trace is a complex and compelling thriller. Although I didn’t find the book entirely realistic, I was engrossed in the story from the first page. Thank you, Atria Books and NetGalley, for my advanced review copy.

About the author

Mindy Mejia is a CPA and a graduate of the Hamline University MFA program. Her debut novel, The Dragon Keeper, was published by Ashland Creek Press in 2012. She lives in the Twin Cities with her family, and is the author of Strike Me Down, Everything You Want Me to Be, and Leave No Trace.