Entertainment Weekly
What makes this Gen-X-targeted novel so satisfying is how intelligently Kline dovetails Kathryn's challenge to find her way in life with her attempts to solve a psychologically resonant mystery."
Chicago Tribune
"EDITOR'S CHOICE. . . A novel involving a vanished and, of course, stunning young woman is hardly a new concept, but Christina Baker Kline artfully crafts this absorbing book, bringing equal insight to the characters of Kathryn, the protagonist, and Jennifer, the friend who disappeared 10 years before on the night of their high school graduation."
Publishers Weekly
The author of Sweet Water offers a taut, absorbing novel about a woman who must solve a haunting mystery in order to move on with her life. Kathryn Campbell has been in emotional limbo since the mysterious disappearance of her best friend, Jennifer, on the night of their 1986 high-school graduation. A decade later, she finds herself returning to their hometown of Bangor, Maine -- even though, with a failed marriage under her belt and a journalism career idling in neutral, moving back in with her (also divorced) mother is probably not the best way to boost her self-esteem. So when a friend asks Kathryn to write a newspaper story about Jennifer, Kathryn reluctantly agrees. Since Kathryn's return coincides with her class's reunion, she has ample opportunity to interview the four former companions who were with Jennifer on that fateful night, as well as others who might have played a hand in Jennifer's baffling disappearance. As Kathryn delves into her best friend's background, unnerving facts about the seemingly golden girl start to emerge, and soon it is obvious that someone is trying to thwart her investigation. The mystery of why Jennifer vanished becomes even more puzzling as new facts come to light, and Kathryn's eventual insight that some ambiguities are part of life brings depth to the narrative. Kline's edge-of-the-seat denouement ties up the plot threads with dexterity and also allows for a plausible future for Kathryn herself.
New York Times Book Review
...Kline vividly describes how the sensory memories of adolescence remain acutely intact, no matter how far removed adults may seem from their teen-age years....Kline's handling of the large cast of characters...[is] so well done that the reader will keep turning the pages.
Boston Globe
Desire Lines has the staying power of art....Kline dramatizes private life, from the charged crosscurrents of broken families to the robust intimacies of sex, with a generous, knowing appreciation of human nature. But what impresses most about the author is the pulsing depth and ambiguity she brings to her sometimes maddening but lovable main character, Kathryn, who blooms into adulthood as she turns over the soil of her past and exposes the hidden turnings of the human heart."
