Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok (Review by Bruna Morais)

This book is one of the best mystery novels I have ever read and has an amazing plot twist. It is always a delight to read a beautifully written story that makes you wonder what will happen and you end up reading a totally unexpected finish. This story is about family secrets and heritage, immigrants’ difficulties with assimilation, and a lot of drama. Sylvie Lee has the perfect life – she’s beautiful, has a successful career, and she has the perfect husband. She was born in the US to poor Chinese immigrants that sent her to the Netherlands to be raised by her grandmother and the Tan family. For years and years, she tried to fit in and her only real friend was Lukas, her cousin. After nine years, Sylvie finally returns to the US to her parents and her younger sister, Amy. Again, she would have to adjust to a country with a different culture and traditions. Her sister Amy has always idolized her since she turned out to be a strong woman with the perfect life. But things are not as they appear on the surface and Sylvie’s life is not as flawless as it seems. Years go by and Sylvie goes missing after spending some time in Europe visiting her beloved aging grandma. Amy leaves her comfort zone and goes to the Tan house to help with the investigation. As soon as she gets to their house, Amy begins to realize something is wrong and there’s something they’re not telling her. The family is full of secrets and she discovers facts about her sister’s life that she could never believe were true. And if Sylvie ran away, where did she go? Is she even alive? The book is a real page-turner and the last chapters get very intense. I like how the book switches between chapters about Amy in the present and Sylvie in the past before she went missing.