Kimi Cunningham Grant lets her research and suspense skills lead the way in THE NATURE OF DISAPPEARING. In the opening scene, for instance, wilderness guide Emlyn mills an odd atmosphere with her latest client. They make a fair trade: a "hopper-dropper” tool she made by hand for a brown trout her client caught. Yet she can’t ignore an unjust animosity emanating from her client, as if Californian wildfire smoke obstructing the Obsidian Mountains is her doing. Though the book sometimes follows the tropes of the thriller genre like a hiking trail, Grant’s efficient pacing, weaving of the narrative’s past with its present, and thoughtful narration make her fourth novel robust and exciting.

While tying some Royal Coachman fishing lures in the tour company’s gift shop, Emlyn is approached by her ex-fiancé, Tyler. He has been friends with a woman named Janessa since childhood and asks for Emlyn’s help finding her. Janessa --- the extroverted, anti-comfort zone friend of our introverted protagonist --- has gone missing in typical thriller genre fashion. Still in love with Emlyn, Tyler hopes to win his former fiancée back. Neither the police nor her family are convinced that Janessa is actually missing, believing the outdoorsy social media influencer is on an extended excursion in the wilderness. This convinces Emlyn to let Tyler and the life she left behind bleed back into her solo lifestyle.

"[THE NATURE OF DISAPPEARING is] efficient, intricate, educational and exciting. Grant knows when to slow down the pace to take intimate dives into her characters, and when to hit the gas to thrill and terrify readers."

Fittingly, Emlyn is the perfect example of how Grant overcomes some of her novel’s clichéd choices. Although “generic” could be a word Emlyn herself might assign to her own character, her development is thoughtful and satisfying to read. Her fear of socializing is rooted in her trust issues, which may stem from another cliché --- the lost-parent backstory --- but Grant extends a comforting hand to readers who also feel hindered forming relationships from fears of abandonment. The character trope of “awkward lone-wolf protagonist in the midst of a fresh start” recurs in a lot of modern literature, but Grant’s writing skills and talent as an author keep the pages turning fluidly. Any critique of her over-borrowing is a criticism in hindsight --- away from the reading experience, once a bookmark is snuggled in place.

Besides still loving her, Tyler needs Emlyn’s superb tracking abilities. While these skills sometimes feel convenient in yet another thriller centered on a missing person, Grant does a solid job contextualizing Emlyn’s tracking. As a child, her father abandoned her and her mother, which led to a heartbreaking but useful habit. Though Emlyn knew she wouldn't find her dad, she coped with her trauma by reading tracking guides and practicing in the woods. His cowardice made it hard for her to trust others, yet it made her an excellent tracker.

Thanks to some disturbing clues from Janessa’s social media accounts, Emlyn and Tyler set out to Martin Reservoir to find Janessa. With nothing to do besides trek onward and talk, Emlyn has a hard time keeping nostalgic warmth at bay. As she recalls happy memories with Tyler, Grant uses some great word choice to posit a hard question within Emlyn’s mind: “Had she ever felt so awake?” Throughout THE NATURE OF DISAPPEARING, Grant does a wonderful job depicting Emlyn’s internal conundrums. When her thoughts act as the motor of the third person narration, her internal arguments and counter-arguments read like telepathy. The self-awareness with which Grant paints Emlyn is ironclad, especially in her thoughts when Tyler first approaches her. She does not want to reunite with the man who chose drugs over her, but she admits to herself that she had hoped and fantasized that he wants her back.

One of Grant’s strengths throughout the book is the trust she has in her readers. She embraces modernity and audience literacy when she drops details like “hopper-droppers,” “Airstream,” “Royal Coachman,” “glassing” and “jetboil.” She knows that it is 2024. Most readers have quick internet access and can look up the words they don’t know. Over-explanation is a rampant hindrance to concise writing, a bear trap that she avoids at every turn.

Overall, THE NATURE OF DISAPPEARING is a testament to how extraordinarily unique ideas are not a requirement for good literature. It’s efficient, intricate, educational and exciting. Grant knows when to slow down the pace to take intimate dives into her characters, and when to hit the gas to thrill and terrify readers.