Review:
This book is structured as a reconstruction of the events leading up to sports writer Harper's sister's disappearance. Harper's sister, Willow, was grieving after the death of her young son when she discovered the words "Clifford Island" written in his room. Wanting desperately to know what sort of connection Clifford Island had to her son, Willow takes a job as the island's new youth ministries director and starts to dig into the island's mysteries. It's a strange place: it has hardly any internet presence, so it's difficult to find out anything about it. The whole island seems to be stuck in the mid-to-early '90s - teens wear slap bracelets, no one has a cell phone, no one has newer cars, etc. People even seem to be weirdly fixated on the OJ Simpson car chase, watching it every day as though it were breaking news.
The story alternates between scenes leading up to Willow's disappearance, as she investigates what makes this island tick and at the same time finds herself strangely at home in this bizarre place, and scenes in which Harper talks to folks on the island in an effort to figure out what happened to his sister. Both Willow and Harper find an ally in Lily, a Clifford Island teenager who's frustrated with the island's rules and doesn't believe in the reasons behind them.
