Don't Try to Find Me

May 26, 2014
At the start of Brown’s plodding debut, 14-year-old Marley Willits walks out of her parents’ Northern California house. Marley’s mother, Rachel, has no idea why her seemingly happy daughter would do such a thing. She and her no-nonsense husband, Paul, turn to the Internet to find Marley when local police fail to provide assistance to track down yet another runaway. Paul, who’s as cold and calculating as Rachel is histrionic and emotional, sets up FindMarley.com, and uses social networking sites to put the word out about their missing teenager. Brown negates most of the suspense by narrating portions of the novel in Marley’s voice—she’s left home very much on her own accord—and by making her current plight far more predictable than nail biting, casting a run-of-the-mill Facebook predator as the boogie man, whose identity is revealed far too soon. Instead of wondering about Marley’s safety, the reader is left pondering whether everyone is actually better off away from each other. Agent: Elisabeth Weed, Weed Literary Agency.

May 15, 2014

At 14, Marley faces the typical issues most teens face--identity crisis, body image, parents who don't understand, and so on. When her mother, Rachel, finds the note on the kitchen whiteboard, "Don't try to find me," she doesn't believe for a minute that Marley has actually run away. As the days pass, Rachel and her husband Paul come to realize that indeed their daughter has left home. While Paul goes into full "find Marley" mode by creating a website, Facebook page, Twitter account, and regularly appearing on TV, Rachel becomes withdrawn and even a scapegoat for her daughter's disappearance. She has secrets and finding Marley may result in her past coming out as well. But Marley isn't an innocent in all of this either. VERDICT A twist on the typical runaway story, this debut novel challenges the idea of why teens run away and what motivates them. A page-turner that will engross fans of Jodi Picoult or Liane Moriarty. [Previewed in Kristi Chadwick's Mystery Spotlight feature, "Pushing Boundaries," LJ 4/15/14.--Ed.]--Robin Nesbitt, Columbus Metropolitan Lib., OH

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2014
It's every parent's nightmare: to have a child go missing. Fourteen-year-old Marley, only child of Rachel and Paul Willits, leaves a brief message that starts, Don't try to find me, when she heads across country to be with Brandon, the boy she fell in love with online. Increasingly distraught as the days pass, Paul mobilizes a nationwide effort to find his daughter, while Rachelher secrets made publicbecomes more and more suspect. Alternate narratives by mother and daughter gradually reveal the causes of Marley's discontent and the role played by her former therapist. Since it's apparent early on that Marley is a runaway who hasn't met with foul play, despite police suspicions and rumor to the contrary, tension is built largely in personal relationships. As the Willits' marriage teeters, suffering body blows, the blooming love between Marley and Brandon is held up to the light of day. This is an insightful novel from therapist Brown that ultimately seems to be less a thriller than a cautionary tale for parents and teens.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)