This pulse-pounding psychological thriller takes roots from the Dutch tradition of blindfolding and dropping your adolescent child in the middle of the wilderness—and shows what happens when it goes horribly wrong.
Twelve-year old Karin is blindfolded and dropped into the Hoge Veluwe National Forest with three other children. With nothing but a few basic supplies and emergency food, the children are tasked with working together to navigate one of the Netherlands' most beautiful and wild locations and return home to where their families are anxiously waiting.
The youngest of the group and distracted by her own thoughts, Karin lags behind, suddenly looking up to see that the other children have vanished.
As Karin struggles against the elements to find her way back, she soon realizes that something far more sinister lurks in the woods.
Meanwhile, the parents are reeling from the knowledge that none of the children have returned. The authorities are alerted, and the news media descends, turning the disappearances into a public frenzy. Amidst the chaos and hysteria, Karin's mother, Grace, is facing threats of her own, making her doubt who she can trust. Will she be able to untangle this web of false leads and fake news to find her daughter—before it's too late?
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When I heard Nina Siegal’s You’ll Thank Me for This was based on the Dutch tradition of dropping kids in the forest to find their own way home—yes, it’s real, and yes, it still happens—I pushed it to the tippy top of my pile. What begins with every parent’s worst nightmare quickly evolves into a twisty, stay-up-too-late stunner, a tense and atmospheric tale that will make you take another look at the people you think you know.
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Kimberly Belle, author of Dear Wife and Stranger in the Lake