What We Saw by Mary Downing Hahn

Clarion Books, 2022

ISBN-13: 978-0358414414

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook.

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Abbi and Skylar are best friends. Skylar has a way of talking Abbi into doing things she isn’t allowed to do. One day Skylar talks Abbi into riding their bikes to the town limits. They end up at a dead end, Marie Street, near the woods. They discover a treehouse there and claim it as theirs. Jason and Carter, two boys in their grade find, mock, and threaten them but they are determined to make it their hideout.

Abbi and Skylar notice that every Thursday afternoon a man and woman, disguising their identities, rendezvous at the end of Marie Street. At first they imagine the two are spies, but Skylar is convinced they are “cheaters”, with the man stepping out on his wife, similarly to what happened in her own family. Abbi takes photos on her phone as evidence.

One day the couple in the car have an argument and the woman runs off into the woods. Shortly after, their art teacher, Ms. Sullivan, is reported missing, and is later found dead in the woods. Skylar and Abbi want to turn their evidence over to the police, but don’t want their parents to know they broke rules about where they can go, so they decide to ask a teacher they trust, Abbi’s English teacher, Mr Boyce. Mr. Boyce borrows Abbi’s phone overnight, and when she comes back he tells her not to go to the police.

After Abbi discovers Mr. Boyce deleted the photos from her phone, Abbi and Skylar decide to go to the police after all, but without the photos as evidence, the police don’t take the girls seriously. The girls go back to the woods to look for more evidence, and run into Jason and Carter. Spoiler: Carter’s uncle Paul is a violent drug dealer who lives in the woods. Jason and Carter have been selling drugs to high school students for him and witnessed Ms. Sullivan’s murder.

Once Abbi and Skylar escape, the police move in, arrest Paul, and find help for the boys, who have been badly beaten. Abbi’s mom decides Skylar is a bad influence, and Skylar finds other friends. She can’t forgive Mr. Boyce for his role in Ms. Sullivan’s death. Abbi forgives Mr. Boyce, and begins looking forward.

This was not one of Hahn’s best, and she can really write. Abbi was really underdeveloped, her character overshadowed by Skylar, who wasn’t a sympathetic character. There were a lot of loose threads at the end, and I couldn’t tell what the ultimate aim of the story was, unless it was to demonstrate what a toxic friendship looks like. While the scene in the woods where Jason and Carter defend the girls is gripping, I don’t think this really succeeds as a thriller. Fans of Hahn’s other books may enjoy this, but there are better thrillers for this age range.

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski