What Remains of Her

July 23, 2018
In 1987, Jonah Baum’s wife, Rebecca, and their seven-year-old daughter, Sally, disappear from their home in Ivers, Vt., in this muddled thriller from Thriller Award finalist Rickstad (The Names of Dead Girls). In spite of an intensive search overseen by Sheriff Maurice Welch, they are never found, and Jonah becomes a pariah. Twenty-five years later, Lucinda Welch, Maurice’s daughter and Sally’s childhood friend, is now deputy sheriff when another seven-year-old girl, an abused child who’s never named, goes missing. Jonah finds the girl, who reminds him strongly of Sally. Both protective and possessive of her, he cares for the child’s needs in his isolated cabin outside town, but doesn’t report her missing. Meanwhile, Lucinda struggles with her terrible memories of Sally’s disappearance, as well as Maurice’s fragile mental and physical state, as she gradually unravels both present and past cases. The rickety narrative, which shifts awkwardly among the viewpoints of Lucinda, the hapless Jonah, and the missing girl’s abusive parents, ends on an improbably happy note. With any luck, Rickstad will do better next time. Agent: Philip G. Spitzer, Philip G. Spitzer Literary Agency.

February 15, 2018

Poetry professor Jonah Baum's wife and daughter have disappeared, and though there's no sign of kidnapping or murder, the sheriff is suspicious: daughter Sally's drawings chill the blood, and Jonah isn't quite making sense. Rickstad's The Silent Girls was a No. 1 best-selling Nook and No. 3 Mystery Kindle novel; with a 75,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.