I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Seventeen-year-old Fenny Allen has been Sarah Vincenty's sidekick for as long as she can remember. Over the years, Sarah has built a reputation in their small town as an amateur detective and a vigilante who has dispensed her own form of justice.

Now Sarah is missing. The police have written her off as yet another teen runaway, but Fenny is convinced there’s foul play. And when she discovers a binder Sarah left behind, entitled In Case I Go Missing, Fenny realizes that Sarah disappeared while investigating her biggest case yet.

With Sarah gone, it's up to Fenny and her other best friend, Sam, to finish her investigation. As they piece together the clues, they find themselves up against a decades-old mystery that links to the town's dark history. But is this binder a guide to finding Sarah—or are Fenny and Sam already too late?

The more the pair uncover, the clearer it becomes that those involved will go to great lengths to keep their secrets. And when everyone has something to hide, there are more than a few reasons to want Fenny and Sam out of the picture. Permanently.

Short and Sweet Review

In Case I Go Missing follows Fenny after her best friend Sarah suddenly disappears. Sarah has always been the bold, reckless one in their trio the self-appointed detective constantly digging into other people’s secrets, while Fenny stayed in the background beside her. But when the police brush Sarah off as just another runaway teen, Fenny finds a binder Sarah left behind titled In Case I Go Missing. Inside are clues tied to a decades-old mystery buried deep in their small town’s history. Alongside their friend Sam, Fenny begins retracing Sarah’s investigation, uncovering secrets, suspicious townspeople, and the unsettling realization that someone may have wanted Sarah gone for good. The deeper they dig, the more dangerous things become, especially when it becomes clear that the truth has been hidden for a reason.

I thought this was a really solid YA mystery overall. The strongest part for me was definitely the atmosphere. The small-town setting felt tense and layered with secrets, and I liked how the story slowly unraveled pieces of the town’s past alongside Sarah’s disappearance. The “In Case I Go Missing” binder was also such a fun concept and gave the mystery a more interactive feel as Fenny and Sam followed Sarah’s trail of clues. It kept me invested because I genuinely wanted to know what happened to Sarah and how everything connected. I also liked that the friendships felt messy and realistic. Fenny constantly living in Sarah’s shadow added an interesting layer to the story, and I enjoyed seeing her slowly become more confident as the investigation progressed. The characters could be frustrating or self-centered at times, but honestly it made them feel more believable as teenagers instead of overly polished thriller protagonists. That said, parts of the mystery did get a little confusing for me, especially when the story leaned heavily into the town history, maps, farmland details, and older case connections. I found myself losing focus a few times during those sections because it slowed the pacing down a bit. I also think the writing style felt older than typical YA not in a bad way necessarily, but the dialogue and narration sometimes made the characters feel older than high schoolers.

Overall, I ended up enjoying this one quite a bit. It’s more of a slow-burn mystery focused on uncovering secrets than a super fast-paced thriller, but I thought the twists were handled well and the story stayed engaging throughout. If you like small-town mysteries with layered histories, strong friendship dynamics, and amateur sleuth vibes, this would definitely be worth picking up.