The Year of Fog

January 22, 2007
In this spare page-turner, Richmond (Dream of the Blue Room
) draws complex tensions from a the set setup of a child gone missing. Photographer Abby Mason stops on San Francisco's Ocean Beach with her fiancé Jake's six-year-old daughter, Emma, to photograph a seal pup; by the time Abby looks up, Emma has disappeared. Abby, who narrates, flashes back to her growing relationship with high school teacherJake, and sketches its transformation over the course of the search. Emma's mother, Lisbeth (who abandoned the family three years earlier), wants back into Jake's life—even as he is giving up hope on finding Emma. Abby delves into the bereft missing children subculture and into the vagaries of memory. A hypnotist helps Abby unearth promising details of that singular last day with Emma, but the information requires major follow-through from Abby. The book's twist on missing child stories is wholly effective. Richmond develops the principle characters, and Abby's dysfunctional parents make for sharply drawn secondaries, as do local surfers. The book is beautifully paced—one feels Abby's clarity of purpose from the first page. The sure-handed denouement reflects the focus and restraint that Richmond brings to bear throughout.

June 15, 2007
Abby Mason was walking on the beach with her fiancé 's six-year-old daughter, Emma, when Abby looked away briefly, and Emma ran ahead and seemingly disappeared. Abby narrates the story of the exhaustive search, the change in her relationship with Jake, and the many other friends and people she meets along the way who offer assistance and support. The book is set in both San Francisco and Costa Rica, and Richmond does a good job of establishing a sense of place for both locations. The tale develops slowly and spans a year, with flashbacks to Abby's earlier life with her family and with Jake and a former relationship. Months go by in the search for Emma: Jake is convinced she drowned, while Abby refuses to give up. The resolution is satisfying but complicated. Carrington MacDuffie reads very competently and professionally, and the first-person narrative is very effective. Recommended for popular fiction collections, especially where authors like Jodi Picoult, Elizabeth Berg, and Jacquelyn Mitchard are popular.Mary Knapp, Madison P.L., WI

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