I flew through this book, trying to figure out the mystery of Vanessa’s death, haunted by Bailey’s grief and entranced by the intertwined relationships between the characters in this book. But I have lost friendships before - thankfully, they are all still alive - and I can tell you with absolute confidence that Medema portrays the lingering love towards a lost friend and the sharpness of betrayal in a stunning way. Now, I am possibly one of the worst people to review this book for accuracy, as I am not from Alaska, have never experienced the death of a loved one and know close to nothing about artificial intelligence. But as Bailey continues to talk to this fake-Vanessa, as well as her other friends from school, she begins to realize there may have been more to Vanessa’s death than anyone originally thought. In a grief-stricken moment, Bailey decides to bring Vanessa back to life as a chat bot, uploading texts, emails and social media posts to a program she steals from her computer scientist mother’s hard drive. And then one night, during the snowy Alaskan winter, Vanessa dies in a car crash.
Teens will gobble up this fast-paced page-turner.Content warning: this review discusses potentially triggering plot points in a book, including death and grief.įull honesty, as I read this book and as I am now writing this review, I am currently suffering through the worst cold I’ve had since 2019 (turns out, mask-wearing works).So forgive me if anything I say about Dante Medema’s delightful sophomore novel, “Message Not Found,” is entirely incoherent, but I think I’d also be incoherent if I was perfectly well because … wow.īailey and Vanessa are best friends, as close as sisters and absolutely inseparable. This compelling puzzle of a story, filled with engrossing twists and turns, is written in alternating prose and text message formats. That is, until the bot starts dropping hints that there was more going on with Vanessa than Bailey realized-a secret so big, it may have contributed to Vanessa's death. The more data she uploads to the bot, the more it feels like she's really talking to her best friend. To help grieve her loss, Bailey creates a chat bot of Vanessa using years' worth of their shared text messages and emails. Now Bailey, who thought she knew Vanessa better than anyone in the world, is left with a million unanswered questions, and the only person with answers is gone. But that all changed the night Vanessa left Bailey's, headed for home, and ended up swerving off a cliff nowhere near her house. An emotionally complex portrayal of secrets, loss, and grief from Dante Medema, Indies Introduce author of the Indie Next Pick title The Truth Project.īailey and Vanessa shared everything: laughter, secrets, and packets of Pop Rocks to ward off bad days.
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