Published by Soho Crime on January 2, 2024
The value of Rabbit Hole derives from its focus on the public’s obsessive interest in true crime (or possible crime), particularly when a pretty white girl goes missing. Speculative theories are presented as absolute fact by people who substitute their invented realities for objective truth.
Angie Angstrom disappeared shortly before she was to start classes at a community college. Angie’s half-sister, Theodora (Teddy) Angstrom, is two years younger than Angie. Teddy and Angie have the same mother, Clare Angstrom. Teddy's father is Mark Angstrom. Angie's father was Mark's brother. Clare married Mark after his brother died.
Angie attended a party on the evening of her disappearance. She told people she was getting a ride from her boyfriend. Whether Angie actually had a boyfriend and the possible boyfriend’s identity are part of the mystery. Teddy saw Angie when she briefly returned home after the party. Teddy is the last person known to have seen Angie, although she was slow to admit that fact to her parents and the police.
A subreddit is devoted to Angie’s disappearance, giving fools the opportunity to assign blame. That seems to be a favorite American pastime. Many people who comment on internet forums think Mark is creepy because he married his brother’s widow. Since they regard him as creepy, they assume he killed Angie or did something that drove her into hiding. Why anyone would think Mark’s choice of marital partners is a reason to judge him, much less evidence of murder, is a mystery equal to Angie’s disappearance.
As Rabbit Hole begins, Mark has just committed suicide by driving off a bridge on the tenth anniversary of Angie’s disappearance. He had a substance abuse problem that predated Angie’s fate.
Teddy’s father was conducting his own investigation into Angie’s disappearance. As Teddy goes through his papers, she finds some notes that apparently relate to investigative leads. One is the phone number of a landscaper who Angie thought was hot (so did Teddy, although she wouldn’t admit it to Angie). A text on Mark’s phone leads Teddy to her brother’s ex-wife. Blurry photographs might or might not prove that Angie is still alive. Examining Angie’s old social media accounts (who knew that MySpace still exists?) provides more clues but no definitive answers.
Mark was in touch with Mickey Greeley, a woman who, as an apparent hobby, investigated Angie’s disappearance. Whether Mickey resembles Angie at the age of her disappearance seems to be a matter of opinion. Maybe Mark hung out with Mickey because of that resemblance. Maybe Mark was sleeping with Mickey. Angie can’t be sure, although Angie and Mickey become attached in a clingy way that might have been similar to Mickey’s relationship with Mark.
The story is told in the third person from Teddy’s perspective. Teddy is a high school teacher. She has an empty apartment but she spends most of her time with her mother, with whom she has a strained relationship. Teddy has no boyfriend. A shrink told her that Angie’s disappearance has made her fear happy endings. She has taken herself off the dating apps again, although she knows she will return when she wants sex or a good restaurant meal.
Kate Brody does an impressive job of planting real and misleading clues to keep multiple mysteries in play throughout the novel. What happened to Angie? Which supporting characters are disguising their true stories? Did any of them play a role in Angie’s disappearance and, if so, why are they making themselves part of Teddy’s life?
Teddy is such a mess that she’s almost a sympathetic character, if only because she loves and is caring for Angie’s old and dying dog. She’s also maddening in ways that make it difficult to sustain sympathy. Teddy makes bad decisions. When she’s doxxed on Reddit, she buys a gun, starts carrying it with her, forgets she has it and brings it to school. The choices she makes about sex partners range from questionable to awful and become more dangerous (at least psychologically) as the novel nears its end.
I give high marks to the subreddit transcripts, which perfectly capture the idiocy of Reddit discussions. I also appreciated Teddy’s questions about her father when she begins to suspect he might have been a bad guy. Should she stop loving and missing him if her suspicions prove to be true? Does the part of him she loved just disappear if she learns that another part of him was creepy?
A good many readers are uncomfortable with ambiguous endings. They want all their questions answered. But like many “true crimes” that are discussed on blogs, internet forums, and bad television shows, the truth isn’t always knowable. The information Teddy acquires points to a plausible explanation of Angie’s disappearance, but definitive answers are elusive. The novel’s purpose is not to solve the mystery but to explore the impact of “true crime” speculation upon a family that has no answers. In some respects, that makes Rabbit Hole a more interesting novel than it might have been if the mystery had been neatly resolved, although I recognize that readers who demand certainty will be frustrated with the way the story ends.
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