Parents Behaving Badly in Kristen Bird’s Mystery
Helicopter parents would be an apt description for the three mothers in Kristen Bird’s mystery, The Night She Went Missing. Placing them in an insular, upscale community like Galveston, Texas makes the entire situation even more claustrophobic. Everyone is in everyone else’s business and there are few secrets. So when a teen goes missing, the finger pointing begins.
A snooty private school, Callahan Preparatory, has been run by the Callahan family for generations. Rosalyn Callahan, descendant of the founder, rules over the school and her family like a head of state, controlling everything and everyone involved. When her son, Carter, returns to live on the island, she wastes no time involving herself in his family’s life.
Carter’s wife, Catherine, is the reason for their relocation. A musician and composer at a university, she was working on an opera when she inadvertently lifted some material from a student’s work, resulting in charges of plagiarism and her dismissal. Their older daughter, Emily, is in her final year of high school and upset about leaving her friends behind. Carrying the last name of Callahan is another burden for Emily, placing a target on her back.
Emily begins to receive threatening notes and suspects the school’s queen bee, Anna, is writing them. Anna is protected by her mother, Leslie, a recent widow who works at the school. The third mother, Morgan, is an outsider. Her son, Alex, was once accused of rape. Even though he was cleared, the stigma surrounding him end his mother still holds. When he and Emily become friends and she goes missing, Alex is the primary suspect.
The story is told from the three women’s points of view. We also hear from Emily, so we know she’s still alive. But who abducted her and where is she now?
Morgan was one of the few women in Galveston who befriended Catherine. But after Emily’s disappearance, Catherine focuses her anger on Morgan, believing Alex is guilty. Meanwhile, Morgan has begun an affair with Leslie’s brother-in-law, Robert, a physician. Upset that Robert is no longer spending time consoling her, Leslie does whatever she can to implicate Alex.
The Night She Went Missing is Kristen Bird’s debut novel, so she’s hit the ground running. Her characters are recognizable, but never become cliché. Even though the narrative bounces between the women and Emily, the plot is easy to follow with back stories gradually filled in.
There are several twists, surprising but plausible. The ending, for most of the main players, is satisfying. There are lessons for helicopter parents. Nothing we haven’t heard before, but being reminded that hovering is not always helpful can never be repeated enough.
The Night She Went Missing
Kristen Bird
Top photo: Bigstock
