The Fate of Katherine Carr

The Fate of Katherine Carr is a 2009 mystery by Thomas H. Cook, whose Edgar Award-winning book The Chatham School Affair I read and enjoyed years ago. This is a compelling book. It's not an easy read, but it is absolutely impossible to put it down. It requires attention but rewards it with a story that won't let go.

from the back of the book:

A travel writer becomes obsessed by a strange story written twenty years earlier by a woman who disappeared without a trace, in the latest from the highly acclaimed Thomas Cook.

"Missing Persons," I said. "Did you like that work?"

Arlo's voice suddenly took on a quality I couldn't quite decipher: part gravity, part wistfulness, a nostalgia for the dark. "It's a strange kind of mystery, a missing person. Until that person's found, of course."

The memory of what I'd identified as Teddy flamed up inside me. I doused it with a gulp of scotch. "You must have a few interesting stories," I said.

Arlo nodded.

"Is there one that sticks out?"

"Yeah, there's one." Arlo seemed to sense that my gloomy solitariness was not impenetrable and slid into the booth across from me. "Her name was Katherine Carr."

Reviewing the Evidence says, "Thomas H. Cook knows how to do it and he does it well" and concludes,

Thomas H. Cook is a master storyteller, and this book is one of his best. It is not one that can be easily dismissed. It stays with you till the last page. You will want to know who Katherine Carr is and you will want to know what happened till the very end. THE FATE OF KATHERINE CARR is a powerful work from an outstanding author.

The Guardian calls it "intriguing". Kirkus Reviews has a positive review. The Telegraph says, "this lovely novel leaves you feeling a wiser person even while refusing to answer most of your questions." Publishers Weekly says Cook is "Adept at merging past and present plot lines". January Magazine has an interview with the author.