Missing Sam

By: Thrity Umrigar

Published by Algonquin Books, 2026-01-27

Bestselling author Thrity Umrigar returns with a tense and twisty thriller about a woman who goes missing on a morning run, and the wife who must find her and clear her own name. One night after a party, old grievances surface between married couple Aliya and Sam and the night ends badly with a heated argument. Sam goes for a run early the next morning to clear her head--and doesn't come back. Aliya reports her wife missing, but as a gay, Muslim daughter of immigrants, she can't escape the scrutiny and suspicion of those around her. Scared and furious and feeling isolated as nearly everyone doubts her innocence, Aliya makes one wrong choice after another. All the while, Sam is being held captive, terrified that she won't get out alive. Aliya must fight to prove her innocence in the public eye and save her wife. But is safety ever truly possible for them even after Sam is freed? A provocative examination of suburban mores, Missing Sam captures the terror manifested in today's political climate, and the real dangers, both physical and psychological, of being Brown and queer in America.