Shelf Life

“Heartwood explores the many components of what a hunt for a missing person entails, pulling all the threads of the multiple facets of the investigation together to tell a fascinating story . . .”

“We’ve searched over 4000 acres so far. At about 5000 acres, give or take, we start to get into what’s called ROW. It stands for ‘rest of the world.’ It’s where, based on the area search, the likelihood of finding Valerie 1/2 mile out of the search area is the same as finding her 50 or 100 miles out of the search area. Which means, statistically, she could be anywhere.”

This is how Warden Bev describes the frantic search for a missing woman in Heartwood. Called “the best thriller of the year” by The Boston Globe, it was also named a Best Book of 2025 by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New York Public Library, Audible, She Reads, Goodreads, Vulture and NPR. It follows the search for Valerie Gillis, a woman so petite her Appalachian Trail name is Sparrow.

Missing, she was last seen on her way north in the deep woods of Maine just 200 miles from her end destination. Assembling a team, Warden Bev collaborates with professionals and volunteers alike in the search for Valerie but as the days go on, everyone including Val’s parents and her husband are losing hope that she’ll be found alive or even found at all.

But she is alive and alone in her small tent, Val writes constantly. It’s the only thing that keeps her from being consumed by fear and anxiety because she is beginning to lose hope as well.

But this is a novel told not just from two different viewpoints but many. There’s Santos, Val’s partner on the trail who blames himself for her disappearance, figuring if he hadn’t decided to leave the trail before finishing, Val might not have disappeared. It’s Tanya’s job to interview those who were in contact with Val including her husband, an odd duck who may be a suspect as Val recently told him she was ending their marriage. Those monitoring the tipline deal with a variety of characters from psychics who “know” where Val is, those falling into various categories including crazy, self-aggrandizing, and totally off base but offer no pertinent information, and even one woman who says she saw Val far from the trail and thinks she went to grade school with her though the woman’s name is different.

Then there’s Lena, a master of internet sleuthing living in an assisted living complex. She’s developed a soft spot for Val who looks like her estranged daughter. Lena contacts a variety of people in her seemingly fruitless search for Val. But as time goes on, she begins to suspect she’s discovered the person who kidnapped Val.

Amity Gaige’s Heartwood explores the many components of what a hunt for a missing person entails, pulling all the threads of the multiple facets of the investigation together to tell a fascinating story of the physical and mental effort that goes into attempting to rescue someone against the ticking of a clock as time runs out.  

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