Songs for the Missing

Starred review from September 22, 2008
O'Nan proves that uncertainty can be the worst punishment of all in this unflinching look at an unraveling family. In the small town of Kingsville, Ohio, 18-year-old Kim Larsen—popular and bound for college in the fall—disappears on her way to work one afternoon. Not until the next morning do her parents, Ed and Fran, and 15-year-old sister, Lindsay, realize Kim is missing. The lead detective on the case tells the Larsens that since Kim is an adult, she could, if the police find her, ask that the police not disclose her location to her parents. When Kim's car later turns up in nearby Sandusky, Ed, desperate to help, joins the official search. Meanwhile, Fran stays home putting all her energy into community fund-raisers, and Lindsay struggles to maintain a normal life. Through shifting points of view, chiefly those of the shell-shocked parents and the moody Lindsay, O'Nan raises the suspense while conveying the sheer torture of what it's like not to know what has happened to a loved one. When—if ever—do you stop looking? 6-city author tour.

August 15, 2008
Kim Larsen just graduated from high school and is spending her last summer working at the Conoco station and hanging out with her friends before heading off to college. But one day, she doesn't show up for work, and her bed is still empty the next morning. As her parents frantically begin searching for her, posting missing posters, working with a detective, and leading volunteers through the woods, the cold reality of the loss sinks in. Kim's younger sister, Lindsay, the bookish band geek, tries to help hunt for Kim but is caught up in her own storm of emotions. O'Nan ("Last Night at the Lobster") has created a compelling portrait of what happens to both a family and a community when someone goes missing. The grief, worry, and hope surges up and down as good and bad news arrives, giving those of us lucky enough not to face this kind of loss a glimpse of what it must be like to have one's life turned upside down in a matter of days. Recommended for most public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 7/08.]Robin Nesbitt, Columbus Metropolitan Lib., OH

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2008
ONans latest novel delves with uncanny empathy into the tangled emotions of a family in sustained crisis. The Larsens are an average midwestern family until Kim, 18, disappears one summer afternoon on the way to her job at the local Conoco station. As hours turn into days, months, and finally more than three years, ONan illuminates the lives of family and friends changed by this tragedy. Kimsmother throws herself into a frenzy of Americas Most Wanted activityappearing on posters, Web sites, and televisionshowsall the while regretting the increasing distance between her and Kim in the months before her disappearance. Kims father morphs into a detectiveshadowing the police, living in cheap motels, and tacking up flyers by the thousands. Kims younger sister feels lost in the shuffle and struggles to stay out of the unwelcome spotlight. Her best friends and boyfriend go off to college guiltily, feeling as thoughthey should stay, forever frozen in search mode. ONan brings each character to life so perceptively, the reader becomes completely enmeshed in this sad story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)