Young adult book about psychic children

[Justin]

This book may be one of a series - I'm not sure. The book opens with a young boy/teen on a train/subway. The teen has no memory of anything before being on the train. He meets a young girl who is blind; she is part of a family who has various psychic/mental abilities. It turns out that he has similar abilities. He is being pursued by members of a secret organization (maybe government) from whom he had escaped before; they had wiped his memory with some sort of shock therapy treatments in a machine (possibly called Matilda). The cover of the book has the boy being dragged toward the machine.

I originally read this book in the early/mid 1980's.

Thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide!

[Kokomomomo]

The Case of the Vanishing Boy?
Cover:

[Eric]

Try Carrie by Stephen king

[Michele]

For sure this is not Carrie -- no resemblance whatsoever.

Justin was this a YA book or aimed at adults? Do you happen to know whether it was a new book at the time you read it, or an older one?

[Kelly]

Definitely The Case of the Vanishing Boy, by Alexander Key. One of my favorites as a kid. The boy is on a bus, being taken to a reform school at the beginning. The girl is blind, but can psychically "see", and Matilda is the name of the machine.

[Michele]

The Case of the Vanishing Boy for the clicky.

[Kokomomomo]

Just curious, but is my earlier comment not showing up?

[Michele]

Verena wrote: "Just curious, but is my earlier comment not showing up?"

No, it's fine -- I just didn't scroll up far enough so didn't see it. Sorry :)

[Kokomomomo]

No problem - I was just worried it was some kind of bug. (Or I'd become a ghost! o_o )

[Rainbowheart]

Still looking, Justin?