No Time to Wave Goodbye

Starred review from July 13, 2009
Mitchard returns to the Cappadoras from The Deep End of the Ocean
(Oprah's first book club pick), proving that, sometimes, sequels work. In this harrowing outing, set 13 years after the events of Ocean
, the oldest Cappadora son, Vincent, 29, has become a filmmaker, and with the help of his brother, Ben (who was kidnapped in the first book), and sister, Kerry, makes a documentary about child abduction. When the film is nominated for an Academy Award, the family is pushed into the scrutinizing eye of the public, and then tragedy strikes with the disappearance of Ben's daughter, plunging the family into a riveting ordeal that takes them from Hollywood to a grim, middle-of-nowhere confrontation. Along the way, family bonds are stretched to the breaking point, and Mitchard charts a tormented family dynamic with shocking ease. This action-packed and emotionally rich drama is every bit as satisfying as its predecessor.

August 1, 2009
Lackluster sequel to Mitchard's Oprah-anointed debut.

In The Deep End of the Ocean (1996), kidnapping victim Ben Cappadora returned as a teenager to his parents Beth and Pat, owners of a popular Chicago Italian eatery. Now 25, Ben has married Eliza, adopted Bolivian daughter of Candy, the detective who helped investigate his disappearance. Ben and Eliza have a six-month-old daughter, Stella. Meanwhile, Ben's ne'er-do-well older brother Vincent, bankrolled by local godfather Charley Seven, has filmed a documentary about the families of other kidnapped and disappeared children entitled No Time to Wave Goodbye. Beth is conflicted about the movie, not just because of the debt to Charley (who's really a pussycat), but because it reopens old wounds—for example, the fact that Ben still thinks of himself as"Sam," the name his kidnapper gave him, and is actually closer to the kidnapper's husband than to his real father. Shortly after Vincent receives an Oscar for No Time to Wave Goodbye, Stella is snatched from her babysitter. Candy and Beth mobilize their forces, but police have no leads. Then a letter appears, penned in pretentious prose complete with Latin legalese, leading Vincent to recall the straitlaced lawyer in his documentary whose favorite daughter vanished at age 17. The book's most gripping sequences follow, involving wilderness survival in the Northern California mountains. Ample detail based on Mitchard's own backcountry treks lends verisimilitude as Ben and Vincent search for Stella aided by a seasoned guide and her trusty kidnapper-sniffing St. Bernard. The proliferation of characters may confuse readers, especially those unfamiliar with the earlier book, and a disproportionately large chunk of the narrative is devoted to exposition.

The solution to the Stella puzzle is fairly obvious, while other mysteries—such as a plausible motive for the villain—go unplumbed.

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August 15, 2009
In this sequel to "The Deep End of the Ocean", Mitchard returns to the Cappadora family. It's been 13 years since Ben was returned to his family after being abducted at age three. Now, the family is gathered to watch the premiere of oldest son Vincent's documentary about abducted children. As they watch the film, his parents are hurled back into their troubled past. As much as they would like to leave all the turmoil behind, the family is thrust once again into the spotlight as the documentary earns an Oscar nomination. And then another child is abducted. VERDICT While the original novel focused poignantly on the inner world and grief of Beth Cappadora, the sequel is firmly in suspense and adventure territory. Family dynamics are skillfully drawn, but the overall feel and pacing of the novel are closer to the action and drama of Mitchard's "Still Summer". [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 5/1/09; library marketing.]Jan Blodgett, Davidson Coll. Lib., NC

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