‘The Missing’ book review: A scary story

Some books never leave your mind. You see their spine on the bookshelf and are transported back to that time and space. You remember how you felt while reading it. ‘The Missing’ by Chris Mooney is one of those books for me. I had to sleep with the lights on after finishing the book. I must have recommended it to all of my reader friends and they too had similar reactions. It’s horrifying. It’s so good.

Mooney is the critically acclaimed author of Deviant Ways, World Without End, and Remembering Sarah, which was nominated for the Barry Award and the Edgar Award for Best Novel. Mooney’s other works are also equally terrifying and I love many more titles apart from The Missing. But The Missing is my favorite because it was my first time reading the author and I wasn’t prepared for what was coming. I later found out that it was also the first book in the CSI Darby McCormick series.

Specific scenes of the book still make me shudder. I decided to reread it to see if it still evokes the same feelings as it did a decade ago when I first read it. It was every bit as satisfying. Mooney is a great storyteller with a special penchant for crafting characters you will come to love and then throwing them into highly unlikely and unsettling scenarios. Something about it just makes your heart race. You feel for these people and become invested in the story.

CSI Darby McCormick finds an emaciated woman hiding at a kidnap site. DNA tests confirm she is the same woman who has been missing for five years. She has somehow managed to escape the dungeon in which she had been held captive. Then a teenage girl goes missing and Darby begins to hunt for the dungeon as she suspects a sadistic serial killer is on the prowl. She soon discovers that she has a past with the kidnapper/murderer and that she might be his next victim.

I don’t want to say anything else and ruin the suspense. I feel too many emotions for this book so I don’t trust myself not to say anything to spoil it for those who haven’t read it. But I can safely say that everyone will enjoy this book. The plot is good. The writing is superb. The author has mastered the pacing and tension-building that makes a good thriller. But The Missing isn’t just a blood-curdling psychological thriller. Mooney knows how to evoke empathy and question your morals. So, it makes for an interesting, wholesome read. Best, the ending will make you squirm.

Fiction

The Missing

Chris Mooney

Published: 2007

Publisher: Penguin Books

Pages: 403, Paperback