I don’t know about you, but the thought of being injured and consequently losing part of my memory is terrifying. Just thinking about that possibility makes my stomach turn a bit. So, when That Weekend begins with a scene of Claire coming-to, alone on a mountain hiking trail with no memory of how she got there and in pain, my heart rate felt like it picked up just a little. The fun part about this kind of a beginning to a book is that as a reader, I only know what the characters of a book reveal. So, if Claire doesn’t know how she ended up where she did, I don’t either. Creepy, right?

As the story moves on, Claire is found by some hikers and taken into a hospital and treated for injuries. At one point, Claire abruptly asks where her friends are, and it becomes clear that at this time the friends she was supposedly camping with preceding her losing consciousness are missing, and Claire may be the only one who knows what happened to them, if she can only get her memory back.

Through chapters that go backward and forward in time to reveal new twists and turns leading up to the day that Claire can’t remember, we learn a little bit more about Claire and the friends she was spending time with. Frustratingly, Claire still cannot recall what happened on the mountain, despite the fact that two of her close friends are missing and foul play is beginning to be suspected. The investigators that are handling the case aren’t giving Claire much to work with, and she begins to worry that they might begin to look at her as a suspect rather than a victim.

Saving the best for last, That Weekend becomes even more intriguing in the last quarter of the book. Upon reaching the end of this book, I was relieved to feel like all of the loose ends were tied up and I wasn’t left with the feeling that I was waiting for closure, which is always a good thing. I enjoyed this book immensely and can’t wait to read more from Kara Thomas!

Review of a Digital Advanced Reading Copy

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Random House Children’s Books

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  14 religious exclamations; 26 mild obscenities; 8 derogatory names; 28 scatological words; 21 anatomical terms; 3 offensive hand gestures; 36 F-word derivatives.

Violence/Gore:  A minor is mentioned to have a cut with some dried blood on her hand; a girl slaps a boy in a brief scene; a mention is made of a mother dying; a minor is using a knife to cut up food and realizes if she moved the knife just a bit she would cut her fingers; a brief scene occurs where a minor realizes she has hit her head so hard that she lost her memory and it is implied that someone pushed or hit her, causing this injury; two minors are reported to be missing and in a dire situation; a minor rips an IV out of her arm and some blood is mentioned; a suspected murder suicide is mentioned with some brief detail about items found that belong to missing persons; a brief report is made of two young men getting into a fight and one of them getting a bloody nose; a girl recalls minor injuries she sustained as a child; a brief referral to a man trying to rob minors and threatening them with a knife is made; a brief report is made of a girl who was abducted and later found dead is made; a mention of women being abducted while driving with no detail; slitting wrists in a bathtub is referred to with no detail; a brief fight is reported to occur between a child and parent; a hit and run is reported where the driver of the vehicle ends up dead and the man he hit is reported to have been dragged quite a way with a vehicle; a minor realizes she was attacked and stabbed a man in self-defense, some blood is mentioned; a brief scene occurs where a bandanna with some blood on it is found; a brief scene occurs where a minor is hit in the head by a shovel; a report is made of a minor sustaining injuries from her abusive father; a minor mentions wanting to kill herself; a man mentions being injured and bleeding and shows it to a group of people in one brief scene; a man threatens minors with a gun and in a later scene shoots the floor with the gun in warning; a brief scene occurs where two minors get into a fight and one of them pulls the others hair and yanks her around, causing her to hit her head on a dresser; a man is mentioned to try to teach a child a lesson by putting an open flame near the child’s face.

Sex/Nudity:  A minor boy makes a sexual reference to another minor; a girl mentions that she is not looking for a sexual relationship in a certain group of boys; a minor observes a scene between a minor couple that is referred to as very intimate, only an embrace is described; minors have a brief conversation about sex; a minor couple hugs and says they love each other; a minor couple is mentioned to spend the night together and a sexual reference is made about taking advantage of having a master bedroom to themselves; a conversation occurs where a minor says that he and his girlfriend don’t only constantly have sex; a minor sleeping with someone is mentioned; a rape kit is referred to by a nurse with no detail; a brief scene occurs where a girl and boy are observed and the girl is only wearing a towel and almost drops it; a brief scene occurs where a boy and girl lay down together and kiss each other, the boy is mentioned to kiss the girls abdomen; a brief mention is made of a man being “turned on” by violence.

Mature Subject Matter:

Death of a loved one; missing persons; domestic abuse; cancer diagnosis; murder; suicide.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Minors are mentioned to consume a drink out of a red Solo cup; minors are mentioned to drink Bacardi and rum; a character is mentioned to smell of cigarette smoke; a minor is referred to as having been blackout drunk; empty bottles of vodka and wine are mentioned to be seen and assumed to have been consumed by minors; heroin is referred to; a character is mentioned to smell of weed; a woman is referred to as “quite drunk”; an adult smokes a cigarette; a young adult is suspected to deal drugs and is mentioned to have been suspended from school for possession of drugs and being caught selling drugs; an overdose is mentioned; a character uses a fentanyl patch to induce an overdose in someone they are trying to get away from.