The Undercurrent - Paperback

by Sarah Sawyer (Author)

"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.

Author Biography

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.