Anyone But Her

September 2, 2024
In 1979, 14-year-old Suzanne Parry's mother, Alex, was murdered in their modest family shop, Zoe's Records. Since that fateful day, Suzanne's childhood gift of clairvoyance has allowed her to sense her mother's spirit—an eerie presence she calls Mom-not-Mom—warning her about Peggy, her father's old high school flame, who worms her way into their lives and starts playing mom to Suzanne's six-year-old brother, Chris. Fast forwarding to 2004, financial woes compel Suzanne’s family to return to their hometown in Denver, allowing the past a chance to rear its ugly head, when a recent kidnapping event that occurred before their move reopens old wounds that never truly healed.
"For me, Denver meant the past would encroach," Suzanne says. Still, she reluctantly approves with an agenda in mind: uncovering her dad's history may provide answers to her son Austin's undiagnosed cognitive and behavioral lapses. Suzanne's story, both past and present, is an unflinching portrayal of a family gone haywire, when, in the face of tragedy, communication lacks and secrecy builds. Swanson (author of The Glass Forest) cranks up the tension between well-drawn leads—Suzanne’s rebellious teenage daughter, Caitlin, seethes with jealousy over the attention Austin receives, their home becomes a target of a suspicious intruder, and her husband is becoming cozy with his coworker.
Despite the narrative's slow burn and somewhat predictable past, the clever use of alternating timelines keeps readers on their toes as they follow the young Suzanne sneaking to decode Mom-not-Mom's cryptic warnings juxtaposed with the adult Suzanne, who might be bordering on insanity. Alex's on-point words, "what we feared most was what we most needed to confront," overarch the central theme in this satisfying blend of supernatural and coming-of-age mystery—that children require a parent’s unequivocal attention, for childhood shapes the kind of person we eventually become.
Takeaway: Grieving, clairvoyant teen unravels the mystery of her mother’s murder.
Comparable Titles: Rene Denfeld’s The Child Finder, Nova Ren Suma's Imaginary Girls.
Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-