Missing

February 13, 2017
In this atmospheric thriller, Winter Crane knows that Reeve’s End, Ky., is the kind of place that doesn’t let go once it gets its hooks in you. She’s determined to break free and go to medical school, far away from her father, who hits both her and the bottle hard, which makes Winter more comfortable living in a backwoods shack. It’s near there that she finds Lennon Bishop, battered but obviously from the nicer side of the tracks. He’s evasive about who hit him but lets slip that he’s in Reeve’s End to see Winter’s friend Edie, who has disappeared. Then Lennon is gone, too, quickly replaced by his taciturn older brother, Jude, who believes that Winter knows what happened. Armstrong (the Age of Legends trilogy) imbues her teenage characters with a realistic mixture of adult grit, earned by difficult circumstances, and youthful charm, especially the flinty Winter. There are enough twists to keep any suspense fan happy, but it’s the deeper theme of trying to disentangle oneself from the place society says you belong that resonates strongest. Ages 14–up. Agent: Sarah Heller, Helen Heller Agency.