A Book of Suspense by Mariah

A Book of Suspense by Mariah - June 2014 Scholarship Essay

If I were to write a book, it would be in my favorite genre to read and watch. Suspense. I love the confusion that it brings because it puts my mind on edge. I like to feel lost when watching a show or reading a book. It keeps me guessing and I would love to be able to have that type of effect on a reader. The uncertainty of the conclusion is extremely exciting because of the multitude of possible outcomes.

My book would be about a man named Jack and his 17 year old daughter, Leah Samuels. Jack and his daughter had a normal father-daughter relationship. She was daddy’s little girl being that she was his only child. Leah and her mother were also extremely close. Leah was a good girl with straight A’s and a bubbly personality. Unfortunately, when Jack’s wife died of breast cancer, it rocked the family’s foundation. The pain of losing her mother caused Leah to shut down completely. She stopped talking to her father and would stay locked up in her room for days. He never knew what she was up to and she would constantly leave home without telling him anything.

Jack tried to give Leah space and let her get away with certain behavior because he felt it was a phase to mourn her mother. He then realized that he gave her too much space because in just a few months, the daughter he always knew was now a completely different person. The book will follow the journey of Jack as he tries to find his daughter who one day went missing. Distraught, Jack’s initial assumption was that Leah had been kidnapped.

Jack will get clues from Leah’s bedroom, her friends, and the unhelpful detective that was assigned to his case. He is determined to find her despite the lack of effort from the detective who suspected no foul play. Jack begins to act like an undercover detective to find any information from any source but the more disheartening information he discovers, the more he realizes that she may have left on her own. Jack is a desperate father who will stop at nothing until he reunites with Leah.