Showing posts with label missing persons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label missing persons. Show all posts
Sep 14, 2018
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Feb 1, 2017
Jun 1, 2015
Where'd you go Bernadette - Maria Semple
Summary: When her notorious, hilarious, volatile, talented, troubled, and agoraphobic mother goes missing, teenage Bee begins a trip that takes her to the ends of the earth to find her.
Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Bernadette Fox, practically a shut-in, who's hired a virtual assistant in India to remotely arrange every task, from hiring a gardener to planning the trip to Antarctica she's promised her star-student daughter, Bee seems pretty crazy. But don't be fooled. Suspicions that madcap Bernadette is as clever as her last name implies will be confirmed heartily. When she's party to some unfortunate events, her erratic behavior leads her husband, Microsoft guru Elgin Branch, to commit her to a local mental-health facility. But Bernadette intercepts his plan at the pass, escapes the staged intervention, and disappears without a trace. Though much of the story is told through documents—e-mails, letters, magazine articles—precocious young teen Bee as narrator is great company, entertaining and convincing in her comportment. TV writer Semple (Arrested Development) pokes fun at the Pacific Northwest as only a Seattlelite can and concocts a caper that, if seen from outer space, might be a mess but in the minutiae of its tangles is clear and rewarding. Under the guise of a hilarious romp, Semple explores the universal questions of why we do what we do and love what we love to some sweet and unexpected ends. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.
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Feb 4, 2015
Leaving time - Jodi Picoult
Summary: "Alice Metcalf was a devoted mother, loving wife, and accomplished scientist who studied grief among elephants. Yet it's been a decade since she disappeared under mysterious circumstances, leaving behind her small daughter, husband, and the animals to which she devoted her life. All signs point to abandonment . . . or worse. Still Jenna--now thirteen years old and truly orphaned by a father maddened by grief--steadfastly refuses to believe in her mother's desertion. So she decides to approach the two people who might still be able to help her find Alice: a disgraced psychic named Serenity Jones, and Virgil Stanhope, the cynical detective who first investigated her mother's disappearance and the death of one of her mother's co-workers. Together these three lonely souls will discover truths destined to forever change their lives. Deeply moving and suspenseful, Leaving Time is a radiant exploration of the enduring love between mothers and daughters"-- Provided by publisher.
Booklist Reviews
On the night one of the caretakers at a New Hampshire elephant sanctuary was killed, Jenna's mother, Alice, was found unconscious nearby. Hours later, Alice checked herself out of the hospital and disappeared, leaving her 3-year-old daughter behind. Now, 10 years later, the precocious 13-year-old wants answers to the mysteries of her mother's whereabouts. Is she dead? Was she also the victim of an unknown assailant? Or was she an abused wife and heartless mother who did not care about her child's welfare? With her father, Thomas, incarcerated in a mental hospital since the tragedy that destroyed his family, Jenna has few people to turn to for help. Aided only by Virgil, the disgraced detective who bungled the initial investigation, and Serenity, a once-famous but now infamous TV psychic, Jenna seeks answers to the questions that have always plagued her. Best-selling, reliably entertaining, and thought-provoking Picoult's newest multifaceted novel is redolent with elephant lore that explores the animals' behavior when faced with death and grief, and combines a poignant tale of human loss with a perplexing crime story that delivers a powerhouse ending.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Popular Picoult's latest hot-topic novel will be heavily promoted on all fronts as she appears in 20 cities and conducts a TV satellite tour. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.
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Mar 1, 2014
Far far away - Tom McNeal
Summary: "When Jeremy Johnson Johnson's strange ability to speak to the ghost of Jacob Grimm draws the interest of his classmate Ginger Boltinghouse, the two find themselves at the center of a series of disappearances in their hometown"-- Provided by publisher.
Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* So it begins: What follows is the strange and fateful tale of a boy, a girl, and a ghost. Ghostly Jacob Grimm, of the famous Brothers, narrates this tale of Jeremy and Ginger and their near-tragic encounter with town baker Sten Blix, whose long-held grudges figure in the disappearance of several village children. Unappreciated as a youngster, Blix has elevated revenge to a sweet art, and he holds Jeremy, Ginger, and an additional victim, Frank Bailey, in a hidden dungeon under the bakery, while Jacob desperately tries to tell parents and friends of the predicament. If he fails, the three may become grist in the baker's next batch of Prince Cakes. Reminiscent of Hansel and Gretel and rife with allusions to the Brothers Grimm tales, this is a masterful story of outcasts, the power of faith, and the triumph of good over evil. McNeal's deft touch extends to the characterizations, where the ritual speech of traditional tales (Listen, if you will) establishes Jacob's phantasmagoric presence amid the modernist American West. There are moments of horror (as there were in the Brothers Grimm original tales), but they are accomplished through the power of suggestion. Details aplenty about Jacob and his famous sibling make this a fiction connector to both fairy tales and Grimm biographies, too. Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.
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Jul 1, 2013
A corner of white - Jaclyn Moriarty
A corner of white - Moriarty, Jaclyn
Summary: Fourteen-year-old Madeleine of Cambridge, England, struggling to cope with poverty and her mother's illness, and fifteen-year-old Elliot of the Kingdom of Cello in a parallel world where colors are villainous and his father is missing, begin exchanging notes through a crack between their worlds and find they can be of great help to each other.
Voice of Youth Advocates Reviews
Fourteen-year-old Madeleine Tully lives in Cambridge, England, after she and her mother flee from high-society life with her father. Elliot Baranski, fifteen, lives in the Kingdom of Cello, where his own father has mysteriously disappeared after a "Color Attack" that also killed his uncle. After accidentally discovering a crack between their worlds that allows letters through, the two begin corresponding about their problems: Madeleine's poverty, her mother's illness, her friends Jack and Belle, her research of Isaac Newton; and Elliot's discovery of the Butterfly Child (a fairy creature said to improve crops), the effects of Colors in Cello, and the antics of his loyal friends Moriarty's fans will recognize her flair for epistolary storytelling and quirky characters. Humorous asides and large doses of whimsy create a breezy tone that makes moments of romance and violence unexpectedly powerful. Madeleine's insistence that Cello is Elliot's fabrication ("I have issues with your world-building") provides a particularly funny, metafiction twist to the parallel-universe storyline. As the first book in a new series, The Colors of Madeleine, this book sets up a lot of backstory, and the slow beginning may deter some readers. Those who persevere, however, will be rewarded with a clever, layered story in which every seemingly innocuous detail plays a part, and the ending satisfies while opening brand-new doors for the sequel. School and public libraries will want to purchase this one.—Rebecca O'Neil 4Q 4P J S Copyright 2011 Voya Reviews.
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