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On the day the author and her brother said goodbye to their mother, Nancy, it was tough, but they believed they would see her again. Nancy was traveling cross-country with her new husband, Mark Christopher Crew. Their destination was South Carolina. Nancy promised her children a Christmas reunion, but shortly after her August 1982 departure, Nancy vanished. The author felt something wasn't right when her mother didn't make contact in the succeeding months, especially since she was previously in constant contact with family and friends. That worry grew to alarm in February 1983 when news of Nancy's disappearance made headlines. The arrest of Crew in 1984 held out the possibility that Nancy's whereabouts might be revealed, but as Crew's case wound its way through the California justice system, the last person to have seen Nancy wouldn't say anything.
The ordeal that the author and various members have experienced in the wake of Nancy's murder redefines harrowing, as the unanswered questions about Nancy's last hours continue to plague her family. The book functions as a memoir and true-crime mystery, as the loss of her mother and friend irrevocably transformed twelve-year-old Andrade's life from that day onward. The search for truth and justice unfolds throughout much of the 1980s. As Crew's trial goes through prolonged delays, the frustration and anger of the author and her mother's family are palpable. The trial itself offers more than enough compelling elements, as the prosecution must prove Crew's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt while missing a crucial piece of evidence. This book is a moving work of non-fiction exploring a daughter's search for closure in the case of her murdered mother.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review