Wrath by Marcus Sedgwick

Wow! What a powerful and memorable story Sedgwick has packed into 131 pages with an engrossing mystery, a missing girl and themes of climate change and friendship. Right from the opening chapter I became involved in the fate of Cassie, a teenage girl who has gone missing. Her friend Fitz is determined to find her, feeling guilty because he had not been there for her before her disappearance.

Cassie has been hearing a hum, a sound that no one else around her could hear and which she claims came from the Earth itself. She tells Fitz about it but neither he nor other members of the band they belong to can hear it. She becomes increasingly isolated and the COVID lockdown has made life very difficult. After being ridiculed at school for her belief in the hum, she disappears. The police are called in, but it is Fitz who tries to follow clues leading to her disappearance.

Told from the point of view of Fitz, the story takes place in Scotland and Sedgwick has created an atmosphere of fear and tension with storms and freezing rain hampering the search for Cassie. Fitz does not believe that she has just taken off to a demonstration about climate change, and must work out why she has left

The feelings surrounding emerging from lockdown and worry about climate change will be familiar to readers who can identify with both Fitz and Cassie. Fitz lives with his supportive father and is trying to navigate his way around his feelings for Cassie. Teens will identify with issues of peer pressure, bullying and wanting to belong to a group, and they will learn with Fitz when to keep quiet about things that are told in confidence.

People interested in Science will want to research The Schumann Resonance to learn about the hum that Cassie hears, while others who like a mystery and want to follow clues will enjoy Wrath, and may like to read other books by Sedgwick like Revolver and She is not invisible.

Themes: Missing persons, Climate change, Friendship.

Pat Pledger