missing persons

Aiden was six when he went missing during a bad rainstorm which flooded the banks of the river that runs through their village. His family and police believed he had been swept away by the river and drowned, having only found his jacket floating in the river and no body. Ten years later his mom is married and in her last month of pregnancy when she gets the incredible news that Aiden is alive. Told from the viewpoint of Aiden's mom, Emma, the Silent Child is a psychological thriller that will engulf you in the chaos of Emma's intense emotions as she tries to figure out who took Aiden.

What

Arrowood is a grand mansion on the banks where the Des Moines River meets the Mississippi River. Arden Arrowood spent her childhood living in the family home until the tragic disappearance of her two-year old twin sisters drove her family to abandon the house. Now, almost 20 years later, Arden returns to  Arrowood and the memories of her childhood and her sisters. Will she finally be able to find out what happened on that fateful day so long ago?

Arrowood is an absorbing story with a strong lead character that holds your interest throughout. The sense of place (the mansion on the river and

Lane is just fifteen when her mother commits suicide. She is sent from New York City to western Kansas to live with her grandparents. Even though she’s never met them, they claim to love and want her. As Lane adjusts to life away from the dysfunction of her mentally ill mother, her idealistic image of the farm blends with her mother’s version to form a reality she wants no part of.

But home and family are hard to root out, and when her cousin Allegra goes missing, Lane is dragged back into the dysfunction she thought she had escaped when she left Osage Flats ten years before.

There’s a lot

Deep in debt and seeking a major change in her life, author Elizabeth Greenwood becomes infatuated with the idea of faking her own death. Couldn't she just "die," and walk away from her student loans, her life, and her problems? Instead of actually committing pseudocide, as it's known, she delves into researching the idea instead, and the result is Playing Dead: A Journey through the World of Death Fraud.

First Greenwood interviews several private investigators and privacy experts about whether it's even possible to disappear completely in the information age, when so much about our lives is

In The Forgotten Girls, Detective Louise Rick returns to the area she grew up in for a fresh start. As the new head of the Missing Persons Department, she finds that her familiarity with the terrain makes things easier, however, confronting people from her past is tougher than she expects.

While reading, you get an inkling that there may be more than one mystery to be solved. True to Scandinavian crime fiction, this book doesn't shy away from tough subjects or gory details.

My mystery book group read this title and had mixed feelings: some wished Rick had done a little more police work

Laura McHugh's second novel does not disappoint. Set in Keokuk, Iowa, this novel tells the story of Arden Arrowood, who has inherited her family's stately old home, where she hasn't set foot since she was a child. Arden's grandparents have owned the house and held it in a trust for years, keeping it maintained and intact. Now that her father has passed away, the house is Arden's. Her mother doesn't think it's a good idea to move back, but Arden can't resist. She's stuck, and she has no way to move forward without starting at Arrowood - the house her sisters disappeared from so many years ago

The End of Everything by Megan Abbott is a haunting coming-of-age story, ripe with teenage angst and suburban mystery. Set in the 1980s, the novel is about two thirteen-year-old girls who are best friends and in their last month of their last year of middle school. It is a time before internet, cell phones, and instant digital recording of every moment of life. One of the girls, Evie Verver, goes missing one afternoon, and the other, Lizzie Hood, tells the story of what it is like to be caught up in the drama: the waiting, the suspicion, the false rumors, and, ultimately, the secrets uncovered

This best-selling novel by South Korean author Kyung-Sook Shin takes a piercing look at how we treat those closest to us, and what it means to be a wife and mother. Told from four perspectives, the story examines the aftermath of the disappearance of “mom”. Some of the narrators speak in the unusual voice of second person, which serves to make the narrative more personal.

The narrators’ revelations are often poignant but can be uncomfortably honest, creating a family portrait that might serve to make the reader painfully aware of his/her own family’s foibles, but also of the strength of love

What a heart wrenching, yet inspiring, read this was! I listened to the audio book and couldn't tear myself away. It's been a long time since I found myself so immersed in a story, or since I have read a story so incredibly tragic and yet, at the same time so hopeful.

The main character is Carey, who believes she is 15 years old. She suffers abuse and neglect at the hands of her meth addicted, mentally ill mother who kidnapped her away from her father when she was five.  She has been hidden away in the Obed Wild and Scenic National Park in Tennessee, along with a six year old half sister. 

A friend of mine, who loves mysteries, recommended Evidence of Life by Barbara Taylor Sissel.  She said it is a book to put on my To Read list, but after reading the intriguing summary I gave it a higher priority and read it immediately. 

With a loving husband and two wonderful children, Abby Bennett thinks her life couldn’t be more perfect.  But what starts out as a simple camping trip for her husband, Nick, and daughter, Lindsey, becomes a hellish nightmare when they go missing during a powerful storm.  As search and rescue efforts continue, wild speculation and ugly rumors begin to surface