The Missing
Chris Mooney
Atria, Apr 2007, $25.00
ISBN 0743463803

In 1984 best friends Darby McCormick, Melanie Cruz and Stacey Stephens are hiking in the woods when they accidentally observe a man killing a woman. Darby calls the police as her hero, her father "Big Red" is a cop, but though her dad promised he would catch the killer, the culprit was never caught.

The impact of the horrific crime scene remains with Darby almost as much as her adulation of her late dad; she obtains a doctorate in criminal psychology and becomes a Boston Crime Lab crime scene investigator. Her current case feels a bit like d j vu as she and her partner Jackson "Coop" Cooper search for clues to the whereabouts of a missing girl, Carol Cranmore. This investigation quickly ties back to what happened when she was sixteen as Stacey is a murder victim and Melanie is among THE MISSING leaving a terrorized Darby in a constant state of panic that she is next.

This is a fun Reagan Era police procedural filled with twists and turns as Darby begins to unravel the truth about a serial killer and her father, whose statue of greatness has begun to crumble in her mind. The story line is action-packed and filled with twists, but also contains typical sidebars of the sub-genre like the brass as always bungling, stumbling and interfering. The serial killer crowd will enjoy Chris Mooney's exciting thriller.

Harriet Klausner