Review: Boy, 9, Missing by Nic Joseph

Boy, 9, Missing by Nic Joseph
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


ABOUT THE BOOK

 Twenty-three years ago, at a small dinner party in a Chicago suburb, Francis Scroll’s nine-year-old brother, Lucas, was found floating face down in his parents’ bathtub. Lucas’s friend Sam is the only person who can reveal the truth, but he is unable—or unwilling—to speak, and Lucas’s death is ruled a tragic accident. Francis is forced to confront the past he buried long ago when Sam’s own nine-year-old son goes missing, and all the evidence points to Francis’s vengeful father as the prime suspect. In order to save the life of a young boy, Francis must unearth the truth about what happened the night his brother died


After events that happen in our past,do we get better or are we broken forever.

During a dinner party 23 years ago Francis`s nine year old brother died in what was ruled as a tragic accident.Francis has tried to move on but his father Alex still blames the lone witness Sam,the son of the other family who were at the dinner party.Sam was a lonely,quiet boy who has never said a word about what happened that night.Now Sam`s nine year old son Matthew has gone missing and all the evidence points to Alex being behind his disappearance.Has Alex really held a grudge for all these years or is something more sinister going on?.

The story is told almost completely by Francis are he desperately searches for his missing father,hoping on one hand that he has taken Matthew while on the other hand hoping that someone else has the child.Francis does not have a very good relationship with either of his parents so it's hard to understand if he is worried more about his dad or Matthew.Maybe he feels guilty about his brothers death and thinks that if he can find Matthew it will help him overcome some of his guilt?.Francis is a complex but very likeable character who has a lot of fears and phobias that have controlled his life for a long time.

Interspersed throughout the story are chapters from a manuscript for a book called The Sam Farr Story which is being written by a character called Kira.These chapters explain what happened on that terrible night and are told from Sam`s point of view so essentially they are parts of a book inside a book.I liked this idea,it made a change from the before and after chapter headings that are used in a lot of thrillers these days.

This is an action packed mystery,it's a story about revenge and justice.It's very intriguing and keeps the reader guessing from beginning to end.It's a very well written debut book and I look forward to reading more books by this author.

Many thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for an arc of this book via netgalley.

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