When Mimi Went Missing by Suja Sukumar
When Mimi Went Missing packs a wallop and commands the reader’s attention right from the opening paragraph. For many, it may be a reminder of the dreaded high school cliques and the mean girls who ran them but with darker intent. This debut novel of Suja Sukumar is categorized as YA fiction but adult readers will find this dramatic character-driven psychological thriller equally fascinating. The formerly close relationship of two teenage cousins has been fractured through jealousy and deceit creating a tense atmosphere that may have led to deadly consequences.
Fractured Relationship with Deadly Consequences
Tanvi is a shy, studious high school junior who focuses on her classes, assignments, test scores and grades for she is determined to earn an academic scholarship to her first choice college, the high-ranking University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She works part-time at Mr. Lee’s Deli owned by her Cousin Mimi’s godfather and close family friend. She doesn’t drink, smoke or date and has few friends aside from her cousin.
Tanvi was a bewildered eight-year-old orphan brought to small town Orin, Michigan by her widowed Auntie who adopted her after the tragic death of her parents. Her brilliant engineer mother had come undone after suffering severe post-partum depression following a late-term miscarriage. Convinced her loving husband was to blame; she committed murder/suicide taking his life along with her own. Newspaper headlines with tabloid banners blanketed the state and continue to haunt Tanvi.
Mimi is now a senior in high school, not as gifted academically as her cousin, but a record-breaking track star with ambitions to make team captain this year to sweeten her chances for an athletic scholarship. Just one year older than Tanvi, she has been her surrogate sister, stalwart friend and protector since their first days together when they attended the same elementary school.
School bullies whose parents must have gossiped about the murder at home had mocked and physically abused the lonely little girl. The taunts were always the same, “You’re a killer, like your mom” shouted by a gang of miniature thugs. A well-placed punch from Mimi and a few bloodied noses soon put an end to that torment but left Tanvi with nightmarish anxiety. Her parents had immigrated from Kerala, India, met in college and married in America but had few friends outside of their workplaces.
As a first-generation Asian American who inherited her parents’ darker complexions, it added to her apprehensions of being perceived and dealt with as an outsider. Auntie’s husband was white, born and raised in Michigan and passed his fair skin on to his only child Mimi who had the large dark eyes and thick black hair of her mother. Auntie, a registered nurse, never complained about the extra burden of caring for her niece and often worked additional shifts to pay for extras for the girls.
Family Secrets, Betrayal and Scandal
At the start of the previous school year, the splintering of the relationship between Mimi and Tanvi began with a lack of communication that increased to an unfamiliar hostility which accelerated after deeply held family secrets were revealed to Mimi’s new best friend, Beth Grant. The betrayal is particularly devastating to someone continually struggling for acceptance. Knowing Beth is the school’s biggest bully and manipulator who callously uses and then discards people, Tanvi realizes she might as well have a target pinned on her back.
The indisputable school leader has everything going for her beginning with wealthy, indulgent parents. They live in a mansion with an in-ground heated pool. Beth drives a Porsche and her indulgent parents provide several credit cards without limits enabling her to have perfectly maintained hair and nails and a wardrobe a runway model would envy. She is a model student, leading several organizations and is the face of the prestigious citywide antidrug coalition Stay Aware.
Beth’s parents are self-involved and seldom seen. Her house parties are legendary with amazing food choices and an open bar and despite her image, a wide variety of drugs are readily available. Tanvi discreetly crashes the back-to-school bash and snaps an incriminating photo of Beth and shockingly her Cousin Mimi with heads poised over lines of cocaine. Somehow the incriminating photo leaks out despite having been deleted from her camera. Tanvi wakes up the following morning in her own bed with dirty, damp clothing dotted with leaf debris, a large bump on her head and no memory of what transpired.
When Mimi Went Missing becomes a fast-paced thrilling detective story as Tanvi sets out to find her cousin or as time passes, her body. She contacts friends and classmates to painstakingly piece together clues to what occurred that the police detectives have been unable to uncover. She is out of her comfort zone and in danger. It’s a perilous, unpredictable adventure that glues the reader to the pages.
This senior staff physician works and resides in suburban Detroit with her husband and two children who unlike the malevolent Beth Grant and some of her cohorts inspire her with their goodness. Suja Sukumar’s stunning debut leaves one eagerly anticipating her next novel.
About Suja Sukumar:
Suja Sukumar loves hanging out in coffee shops and Indian restaurants, drawing inspiration from naan and malai kofta, masala chai and lassi. She is a senior staff physician at a health system in suburban Detroit, where she lives with her husband; two wonderful, beautiful kids; and an elderly cat. She is a member of SCBWI, Crime Writers of Color, & ITW. When Mimi Went Missing is her debut novel.
