Publishers Weekly
07/08/2019
In 1996, a dead white male with a cranial fracture is found on the outskirts of Millar, Minn., in this disappointing thriller from Lotz (The White Road). The unidentified murder victim, who’s wearing “a pink prom-style dress,” is nicknamed the Boy in the Dress. Ellen Caine, a stay-at-home mom who lives close to where the body was discovered, takes an interest in the case; she belongs to an online forum devoted to identifying “the remains of missing people.” But no progress on giving him a name is made until 2017, when a stranger tells Shaun Ryan, who works in an Irish bookstore, that Shaun’s late uncle, Teddy, didn’t die in a car accident two decades earlier, as Shaun believed; instead, he traveled to the U.S. before dropping out of sight. Shaun’s online request for information reaches Ellen, who works with her forum colleagues to determine whether Teddy is the Boy in the Dress. Early on, it’s clear that one of them is hiding some dark secrets, but Lotz fails to generate much suspense en route to the flat climax. In previous books, she’s been better at giving her characters depth. Hopefully, she’ll return to form next time. (Sept.)
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.
