48 Clues into the Disappearance of My Sister

When a young woman mysteriously vanishes from her family home, her sister must tally up the clues to discover her fate.

After beautiful Marguerite suddenly vanishes from her small town in Upstate New York, the causes of her disappearance are entirely unclear. Was foul play involved? Or did she merely take an opportunity to get away for fun, or finally make the decision to leave behind her claustrophobic life of limited opportunities?

Her younger sister Gigi wonders if the flimsy silk Dior dress, so casually abandoned on the floor, is a clue. The police examine the footprints made by her Ferragamo boots leaving the house, ending abruptly. The events from the last day she was seen are considered and dissected.

Bit by bit, like ripping the petals off a flower blossom, revelations about Marguerite and Gigi come into focus—and it’s revealed that their perfect home life wasn’t as pleasant as it seemed. And subtly, but with the unbearable suspense at which Joyce Carol Oates excels, clues mount up to bring to light the fate of the missing beauty.

[An] exquisite novel of suspense … This elegant, captivating tale is un-put-downable."
―Publishers Weekly ⭐ STARRED REVIEW

Another masterpiece of storytelling from a writer who jumps between genres and styles with amazing aplomb.… A thematically and stylistically ambitious novel that displays the author’s literary gifts to their maximum effect."
―Booklist ⭐ STARRED REVIEW

A kaleidoscopic portrait of an unforgettable woman whose memory everyone honors only by distorting it.”
―Kirkus

In 48 Clues into the Disappearance of My Sister, Oates has added another disturbing character to her bountiful cast of strange people and devised another chilling work, one that will slot into the vast canon for which she is justly renowned."
―New York Journal of Books

A deeply insightful and chilling psychological exploration. 48 CLUES INTO THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MY SISTER is absorbing, fascinating and disturbing in precisely the way a riveting thriller should be. Not to be missed."
―Reviewing the Evidence

Few writers better illuminate the mind’s most disturbing corners."
―Seattle Times

Joyce Carol Oates is the author of more than 70 books, including novels, short story collections, poetry volumes, plays, essays, and criticism, including the national bestsellers We Were the Mulvaneys and Blonde. Among her many honors are the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction and the National Book Award. Oates is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University, and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978.

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