Missing Person

by Sarah Lotz Narrated by Gearoid Kavanagh, Nick Landrum, Katherine Fenton, Lisa Rost-Welling

Overview

From acclaimed thriller writer Sarah Lotz, hailed by Stephen King as "vastly entertaining," a new novel about a group of amateur detectives infiltrated by the sadistic killer whose crimes they're investigating.
Reclusive bookseller Shaun Ryan has always believed that his uncle Teddy died in a car accident twenty years ago. Then he learns the truth: Teddy fled his home in Catholic, deeply conservative County Wicklow, Ireland, for New York and hasn't been heard from since. None of Shaun's relatives will reveal why they lied about his uncle's death or why they want Shaun to leave the whole affair alone.

But Shaun has a burning need to find out the truth. His search is unsuccessful until he's contacted by Chris Guzman, a woman who runs a website dedicated to matching missing-persons cases with unidentified bodies. Chris and her team of cold-case obsessives suspect that Shaun is looking for the "Boy in the Dress," one victim in a series of gay men murdered by the same killer.

But who are these internet fanatics really, and how do they know so much about a case that has stumped police for decades? Soon armchair sleuths and professional investigators are on a collision course with a sadistic serial killer who's gotten away with his crimes for far too long - and now they're in his sights.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

PRAISE FOR SARAH LOTZ

"Sarah Lotz's utterly absorbing and thoroughly modern mystery has everything I look for in a novel: vivid, arresting prose, a thrilling story, and unforgettable characters. Missing Person is so good I want to shove it at my friends and make them read it in front of me so I can watch them fall for it, too."—Elizabeth Little, bestselling author of Dear Daughter

Kirkus Reviews

2019-07-01
A missing person case gets upgraded to murder when the members of an online forum turn to sleuthing.

For 20 years, Shaun believed his uncle Teddy was dead after he left Ireland rather mysteriously and cut ties with his siblings. So when a stranger shows up, claiming that Teddy is alive and was last heard from in New York, Shaun is nonplussed. Still, he's curious enough to post a picture on the internet looking for information, where it's picked up by the members of a missing person site who immediately recognize Teddy as "The Boy in the Dress," found murdered in Minnesota nearly 20 years before, wearing a pink prom dress. The narrative follows Shaun; the website admin, Chris, who has personal reasons to want to solve these cases; website moderator Ellie, who has previously gotten in trouble for getting carried away with her sleuthing; and website enthusiast Pete, who claims to be a former cop and sets up a GoFundMe to bring Shaun to the United States. As the group begins to bond by working the case, someone is manipulating the situation for their own protection; someone doesn't want the truth about the boy in the dress to come to light—and might be willing to kill to keep their secrets. Lotz's (The White Road, 2017, etc.) previous novels have hardly been short on either terror or drama; this one is curiously lacking in both. Instead, it follows the slow progress of the investigation, moving appropriately to emphasize the mundanity, perhaps, but devoid in the end of true mystery or suspense. The characters form a likable band of misfits who deserve a more exciting plot. Perhaps there'll be a second chance in a sequel?

A legitimate but hardly original moral: Be careful whom you trust on the internet.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173579171
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	09/03/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged

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