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The Boy Vanishes
From "New York Times" bestselling author Jennifer Haigh, "The Boy Vanishes" is a short story that is novelistic in its scope and emotional intensity. Taut and powerful, it is a keen reimagining of a whodunit in which everyone is implicated and no one is safe.
It's the summer of 1976 on the South Shore of Massachusetts. The Bicentennial is a season-long celebration, and flags are everywhere, snapping in the seaside winds, ironed onto T-shirts, tattooed into biceps. Tim O'Connor works the Cigarette Game booth at Funland-toss a quarter placed on an eight-sided ball into the right slot and you win two packs of smokes or maybe, if you're lucky, a carton. If asked his age, he'd say he's seventeen, but in truth he's fourteen. Yet the kids in blue-collar Grantham-a town first imagined by Haigh in her devastating bestseller "Faith"-grow up fast, are known for being wild, and more often than not drop out of school to punch the clock at the nearby Raytheon plant.
When Tim disappears after the park's closing one night, no one makes much of it till late morning. It's not the first time his mother, Kay, has forgotten to pick him up. It's not the first time he has stayed out all night. By the time local cops begin their investigation, there is little trace of the boy, only witnesses to a complicated set of relationships in a place where surviving isn't always thriving and where disappointment mixes with the salt in the air.
In this superbly crafted story, the search for a missing boy becomes a search for the American dream, laying bare how destructive its promises often are. Recalling Dennis Lehane in setting and subject and masters like Graham Greene and Richard Ford in tone and style, Haigh's latest work is a testament to all that short fiction can be. It's a searing portrait of how much a community loses when one of its own is lost.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jennifer Haigh is the author of three "New York Times" bestselling novels, "Baker Towers," "The Condition," and "Faith." Her first novel, "Mrs. Kimble," won the PEN/Hemingway award for debut fiction, and "Baker Towers" won the L.L. Winship/PEN award for outstanding book by a New England author. Her stories have appeared in "The Atlantic" and "Granta," and her short story collection "News from Heaven" will be published by HarperCollins in September 2013. She lives near Boston.
PRAISE FOR "THE BOY VANISHES"
Jennifer Haigh's "The Boy Vanishes" held me breathless and enthralled. She's conjured here a shimmering summer night filled with caustic dreams and broken lives in a place so vivid it seems more remembered than imagined. This is a terrific story, one that thrums with suspense, nostalgia and the haunting power of true mystery. -Jess Walter, author of the bestselling "Beautiful Ruins"
Jennifer Haigh's "The Boy Vanishes" is a visceral portrait of that half of Massachusetts that'll never see Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard-the half that produces the kind of kid who failed phys ed because he refused to take off his leather jacket-but even more, it's a moving testament to all the lost kids and adults that a world running on neglect and fatalism can produce. -Jim Shepard
It's the summer of 1976 on the South Shore of Massachusetts. The Bicentennial is a season-long celebration, and flags are everywhere, snapping in the seaside winds, ironed onto T-shirts, tattooed into biceps. Tim O'Connor works the Cigarette Game booth at Funland-toss a quarter placed on an eight-sided ball into the right slot and you win two packs of smokes or maybe, if you're lucky, a carton. If asked his age, he'd say he's seventeen, but in truth he's fourteen. Yet the kids in blue-collar Grantham-a town first imagined by Haigh in her devastating bestseller "Faith"-grow up fast, are known for being wild, and more often than not drop out of school to punch the clock at the nearby Raytheon plant.
When Tim disappears after the park's closing one night, no one makes much of it till late morning. It's not the first time his mother, Kay, has forgotten to pick him up. It's not the first time he has stayed out all night. By the time local cops begin their investigation, there is little trace of the boy, only witnesses to a complicated set of relationships in a place where surviving isn't always thriving and where disappointment mixes with the salt in the air.
In this superbly crafted story, the search for a missing boy becomes a search for the American dream, laying bare how destructive its promises often are. Recalling Dennis Lehane in setting and subject and masters like Graham Greene and Richard Ford in tone and style, Haigh's latest work is a testament to all that short fiction can be. It's a searing portrait of how much a community loses when one of its own is lost.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jennifer Haigh is the author of three "New York Times" bestselling novels, "Baker Towers," "The Condition," and "Faith." Her first novel, "Mrs. Kimble," won the PEN/Hemingway award for debut fiction, and "Baker Towers" won the L.L. Winship/PEN award for outstanding book by a New England author. Her stories have appeared in "The Atlantic" and "Granta," and her short story collection "News from Heaven" will be published by HarperCollins in September 2013. She lives near Boston.
PRAISE FOR "THE BOY VANISHES"
Jennifer Haigh's "The Boy Vanishes" held me breathless and enthralled. She's conjured here a shimmering summer night filled with caustic dreams and broken lives in a place so vivid it seems more remembered than imagined. This is a terrific story, one that thrums with suspense, nostalgia and the haunting power of true mystery. -Jess Walter, author of the bestselling "Beautiful Ruins"
Jennifer Haigh's "The Boy Vanishes" is a visceral portrait of that half of Massachusetts that'll never see Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard-the half that produces the kind of kid who failed phys ed because he refused to take off his leather jacket-but even more, it's a moving testament to all the lost kids and adults that a world running on neglect and fatalism can produce. -Jim Shepard
30 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 27, 2012
29 people are currently reading
346 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Haigh
24 books1,159 followersJennifer Haigh is an American novelist and short story writer. Her new novel MERCY STREET takes on the contentious issue of abortion rights, following the daily life of Claudia Birch, a counselor at an embattled women's clinic in Boston.
Her last novel, HEAT AND LIGHT, looks at a Pennsylvania town divided by the controversy over fracking, and was named a Best Book of 2016 by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and NPR. Earlier books include the novel FAITH, about a beloved Boston priest accused of a molesting a child in his parish, and THE CONDITION, the story of a woman diagnosed in childhood with Turner's Syndrome.
Haigh's critically acclaimed debut novel MRS. KIMBLE won the PEN/Hemingway Award for first fiction. Her second novel, the New York Times bestseller BAKER TOWERS, won the PEN/L. L. Winship Award for outstanding book by a New England author. Her short story collection NEWS FROM HEAVEN won of the Massachusetts Book Award and the PEN New England Award in Fiction. A Guggenheim Foundation Fellow and a graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop, she writes frequently for The New York Times Book Review. Her fiction has been published in eighteen languages.
Her last novel, HEAT AND LIGHT, looks at a Pennsylvania town divided by the controversy over fracking, and was named a Best Book of 2016 by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and NPR. Earlier books include the novel FAITH, about a beloved Boston priest accused of a molesting a child in his parish, and THE CONDITION, the story of a woman diagnosed in childhood with Turner's Syndrome.
Haigh's critically acclaimed debut novel MRS. KIMBLE won the PEN/Hemingway Award for first fiction. Her second novel, the New York Times bestseller BAKER TOWERS, won the PEN/L. L. Winship Award for outstanding book by a New England author. Her short story collection NEWS FROM HEAVEN won of the Massachusetts Book Award and the PEN New England Award in Fiction. A Guggenheim Foundation Fellow and a graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop, she writes frequently for The New York Times Book Review. Her fiction has been published in eighteen languages.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 19, 2014
Jennifer Haigh is one of my favorite authors and I was curious to read her latest short story. It is hard to rate a short story because there isn't time to develop the characters or story. I think it would be a great book if she developed it into a full length novel.
November 4, 2012
Good read. Written well. Ending wasn't what I thought it's be. But still nice and quick.
December 31, 2016
I know it is a short story, but there were way too many characters and way too much happening for just thirty pages.
August 13, 2016
Worth reading to enjoy Ms. Haigh 's talent
Once again Ms. Haigh proves she is a gifted writer; especially, in the area of characterization.
A kind touch at the end of this story because she allows the reader to see why Tim disappeared but not his ultimate outcome. The reader can speculate.
Gave it four stars for the profanity. The profanity was unnecessary. Otherwise it would have been five stars.
Once again Ms. Haigh proves she is a gifted writer; especially, in the area of characterization.
A kind touch at the end of this story because she allows the reader to see why Tim disappeared but not his ultimate outcome. The reader can speculate.
Gave it four stars for the profanity. The profanity was unnecessary. Otherwise it would have been five stars.
July 24, 2013
In the summer of 1979 in a Boston town that could be straight out of a Ben Affleck movie, 14 year old Tim O’Connor leaves his job never to be seen again. This novella is more about the hard drinking, chain smoking, lower-middle-class town residents and how they deal with Tim’s disappearance, than about Tim himself. I was sorry that the read was over so quickly. I love Haigh’s writing.
January 14, 2013
This is one of my favorite authors and I eagerly read anything I can find from here. This is a nice short story. It's not as great as her novels and could use a little more depth, but the characters had some potential.
May 12, 2013
In a very brief number of pages, Haigh creates a full cast of complex characters in this short story about the disappearance of a teenage boy in a struggling New England town at the end of the summer holiday season.
October 23, 2012
I think I need to read more Jennifer Haigh.
January 28, 2013
A very short mystery about a missing young teen.
July 5, 2014
I did enjoy it also at times it felt like almost a rushed narrative in a newspaper on the happenings of this missing teenager. I enjoyed her book The Condition much more.
March 22, 2013
Haigh has such a wonderful way of telling a story, a familiarity with people that comes through in stories and novels.
April 7, 2013
Eh....not the best but it was a quick, well-written mystery. Ending was bit of a disappointment.
September 22, 2013
This was alright, although it just sort of ended, not a short story I would really recommend.
December 5, 2013
A short story that follows the effects that the disappearance of a 14 year old boy has on a town. I thought it was well written.
March 20, 2014
Good read but not worth buying
the book was far to short.I love this author. bAkers towers was a favorite of mine. I would not have purchased this if I had noticed the length.
the book was far to short.I love this author. bAkers towers was a favorite of mine. I would not have purchased this if I had noticed the length.
February 3, 2016
Interesting story about a 14 year-old boy who is missing. It's also about the place and times that surround is disappearance.
May 4, 2016
Disappointing
I was expecting a book not a short story. There wasn't enough of a story to be good. Characters underdeveloped.
I was expecting a book not a short story. There wasn't enough of a story to be good. Characters underdeveloped.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews