17 and Gone is a Young Adult novel written by Nova Ren Suma.
At first, the story gives off the air of a paranormal mystery. 17-year-old Lauren has recurring visions of girls her age who have gone missing. She tries to figure out who they are, why they're talking to her, and whether she will be next—and focuses on one particular girl named Abby Sinclair who she believes may still be alive.
With the help of a magic necklace, Lauren is obsessed with finding the truth, saving Abby and the other girls, and saving herself from whatever is coming—but nothing is as it seems.
This book contains examples of:
- Bittersweet Ending: Lauren has schizophrenia and will deal with it for the rest of her life, but Abby was saved thanks to her actions.
- Dangerous 16th Birthday: 17th, but close enough, as all the girls went missing when they were 17, and Lauren fears that it will inevitably happen to her.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Lauren has one, stemming from a traumatic incident with her babysitter, Fiona Burke, who left her alone during a house fire when she was 10.
- Doing In the Wizard: All the paranormal elements are eventually revealed as the products of schizophrenic hallucinations and aren't actually real.
- Dramatic Necklace Removal: Lauren's magic necklace is removed in the third part of the book. She's forced to see it for what it is—a rock.
- Foreshadowing: There's hints that something isn't quite right early on, as Lauren's visions result in her losing time and stripping in the snow, she begins to obsess over the missing girls, and all of her dreams get more complicated and confusing over time—all signs of a mental illness.
- Loving a Shadow: A platonic example happens with Lauren and the girls, who she imagines elaborate backstories for despite never knowing them in reality or at all.
- Mental Health Recovery Arc: The last third of the book is Lauren learning that she has schizophrenia, dealing with its immediate effects, and beginning the recovery process.
- Occult Detective: Lauren uses her dreams and visions to try and track down the missing girls, Abby in particular.
- Pyromaniac: Thanks to her visions of a burning house, Lauren has an obsession with using fire.
- The Reveal: It turns out Lauren has schizophrenia, and all her dreams and visions were symptoms of the disease.
- Rewatch Bonus: Rereading the novel after the reveal makes a lot of earlier moments take on new significance, especially Lauren losing time, stripping in the snow, and building an unending, ever-growing collection of mysteries to solve.
- Stating the Simple Solution: Late in the book, Lauren realizes that if she really was having visions, the quickest way for the girls to be found would be to tell her where to find them instead of deepening the mysteries.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: Lauren's increasingly elaborate visions and dreams are seen from her perspective, and it's eventually revealed that it was all schizophrenic symptoms.
- Wham Episode: Roughly two-thirds of the way through the book, Lauren sees Trina's knife outside of her dreams, confirming that they're real. What actually happens is she thinks she sees it and unwittingly hurts herself, leading to a hospital stay and a schizophrenia diagnosis.
