Mr. Busch takes us into a world where girls are abducted and murdered, a story told from the perspective of a man troubled by his own secrets and his own loss, who is called upon to assist the family of a girl who disappeared. The story of what might be an abduction unfolds, evoking in Jack, the main protagonist, memories of his own unresolved tragedy. We witness his struggle as he investigates the disappearance, discovering along the way the heart rending story in which both he and his wife are entangled. Patience is required and rewarded in this painful meditation on human suffering.
There are no heroes in this story, at least in a conventional sense, only human beings grappling with conflicting emotions. Mr. Busch gives us a main character at once admirable and tormented. There are no easy answers or happy endings here, only the nitty gritty challenges of life. That doesn't mean you won't care for these characters, you almost surely will. But the emotion evoked will most likely be empathy as you observe Jack, his wife and friends come to terms with suffering that is sometimes too much to bear.
Mr. Busch is a master story teller and this book, despite its dark themes, is very much worth reading.