SOLVED. Girl disappears, US Midwest, B&N First Read Selection, About 2008. [s]

[Lily]

In about the period 2007 - 2011, Barnes and Noble had a program of sending out books to obtain early reader reviews. One of those was the story of a young girl who worked nights at a gas stop off a major highway. She also had friends with whom she did things like swim at treacherous quarries and joy riding. She disappears.

For the life of me, I have been unable to remember the name of the book. B&N has long ago taken down the links where I used to be able to reconstruct memory lapses like this. Anyone out there who can help?

( Reservoir 13 is reminding me of that book, although the stories and writing are quite different. I want to mention the book above in my review of R13!?)

[Kris]

Lily, what's the genre - mystery, thriller/psychological thriller for young adults (teens) or older adults?

What's the location - country, region, near a big city?

[Lily]

Kris wrote: "Lily, what's the genre - mystery, thriller/psychological thriller for young adults (teens) or older adults?

What's the location - country, region, near a big city?"

Kris -- note my heading? US Midwest -- I don't recall a specific state, but probably Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Wisconsin, possibly Kentucky. Near a major Interstate, I don't recall that it had a "real" name, but like I-80 cross-country.

That was before the YA appellation was popular -- it would have been considered an "adult" book, although most of the protagonists were teenagers. I'm not good at assigning genre, but mystery or whatever genre you might put The Lovely Bones into. (I believe it was in the same "era" as that book, which was published in 2002. Perhaps attempting to ride on the popularity of the topic?)

I believe it was the second or third book by its author, again not a name I remember. I don't think it was a major best seller, but I think it, or his subsequent novels, did reasonably well.

Thank you for asking, Kris! I do hope you or someone can send me in the right direction. I don't know if I might be able to find someone with a list of the books Barnes and Noble was offering during that time period for review. (My name of the program, "First Read Selection," probably is not exact. ) This is one of those times I wish I had kept a book log. And that B&N had retained their archives of that period. There were so many wonderful discussions.

[El]

Do you remember from whose perspective the story was told? It's been a while since I've read it so I'm fuzzy on some of the details, but reading your first post made me think immediately of Stewart O'Nan's Songs for the Missing. That book is told through the perspectives of her family members after the female character disappears.

[Lily]

El wrote: "Do you remember from whose perspective the story was told? It's been a while since I've read it so I'm fuzzy on some of the details, but reading your first post made me think immediately of Stewart..."

El -- THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Songs for the Missing (2008) by Stewart O'Nan is indeed the book title and author I was trying to remember. Now I can also reconstruct more details of the story.



Incidentally, the book with which I want to compare is Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor. It was on the 2017 long list for the Man Booker. It is set in the English Midlands and traces the community for over a decade after a girl's disappearance.

Again, thank you, El. Now I need to figure out how to mark this "found." (I did -- changed the heading.)

[El]

Great, glad to help! O'Nan is one of my favorite authors, so I am especially happy to have led you back to him.

Also thanks for bringing Reservoir 13 to my attention. I hadn't heard of it before today and it looks interesting.