Missing Child

March 5, 2012
In this chilling tale of domestic suspense from Edgar-finalist MacDonald (Cast into Doubt), Caitlin Rogers, “the director for diversity recruitment at Brunswick University,” moves with her troubled 16-year-old brother, James, to their parents’ South Jersey shore summer house after the death of both parents. Though James dies of a drug overdose, Caitlin recovers sufficiently from these losses to marry Noah Eckhart, whom she meets at a charitable event celebrating the life of Noah’s late wife. One day, shortly after Caitlin drops her six-year-old stepson, Geordie, off at school, Geordie disappears. Caitlin begins a search that not only unearths her own secret demons but also shatters the safe and happy world that she thought she had finally found. As she tracks down every lead, she discovers she isn’t the only one in the family with secrets. Vivid settings, realistic characters, and natural dialogue help make this one hard to put down. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency.

April 1, 2012
MacDonald (Cast into Doubt, 2011, etc.) tugs once more, and expertly, on the nerves of a vulnerable woman and her readership. Two years ago, Caitlin Rogers' teenaged brother James tearfully confessed that while he was out driving on a learner's permit, he struck and killed a woman who turned out to be young mother Emily Eckhart. When Caitlin demanded that he go to the police, he took a fatal overdose of drugs. Caitlin, who went to Emily's memorial service to tell the family what she knew, fell instead for Emily's widower Noah, and married him without breathing a word. Now bad karma has come back on her with a vengeance. The day after the sixth birthday party of Noah's son Geordie, he disappears somewhere between Caitlin's car and the door of Hartwell Elementary, plunging his extended family into recriminations. As if Caitlin needed more trouble, James' old girlfriend Karla, who's turned from drugs to Jesus, pops up just in time to spill the beans Caitlin never could. Noah turns Caitlin out of his house in a cold fury; Detective Sam Mathis indicates that she's no longer a reliable witness about Geordie's disappearance; and when she gets a brief phone call from her stepson, everyone accuses her of fakery or complicity. It doesn't help that the two people who are acting most suspiciously, apart from Caitlin herself, are Geordie's uncle, sportswriter Dan Bergen, and Travis Pelletier, Geordie's 10-year-old cousin. The setup and the plot twists may be synthetic, but readers drawn in by the title will be rewarded by their immersion in Caitlin's anxiety and the revelation of even darker secrets in the family cupboard.

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April 1, 2012
Caitlin Eckhart's six-year-old stepson, Geordie, runs ahead of her into the school auditorium to see the exhibits at the Fall Festival, disappearing into the crowd. Caitlin looks at Geordie's project, talks to his teacher, and then leaves for work without seeing Geordie again. When the boy doesn't show up for class, Caitlin, as his stepmother and the last person to see him before his disappearance, is soon being asked some rather pointed questions by the police. Things come to a head when Noah, Caitlin's husband and Geordie's father, learns a dark secret from Caitlin's past and asks her to leave their home. Alone, frantic, and desperate to find Geordie, whom she knows is still alive because she has spoken to him briefly on her cell phone, Caitlin investigates on her own. Multidimensional and sympathetic characters, fast pacing, and a twisty plot will draw readers into this well-crafted suspense novel. This one will appeal to fans of Mary Higgins Clark and Joy Fielding.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)