Pg. 69: Chris Mooney's "The Missing"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Chris Mooney's The Missing.

About the book, from the publisher:

Darby McCormick had known Melanie Cruz and Stacey Stephens forever. Best friends since childhood, the threesome had survived high school together. But one night in the woods, drinking beers to celebrate Melanie's sixteenth birthday, the three unsuspecting teenagers witnessed the grisly murder of a woman. Darby and her friends fled the scene, but they left behind a clue to their whereabouts, which only simplified the killer's revenge. It didn't take long to find them. This time, only Darby survived. Twenty-five years later, Darby is a crime-scene investigator for the Boston Police Department. When a young woman is abducted from her home in the middle of the night, Darby finds an unexpected witness -- a woman dressed in rags hiding behind garbage cans kept underneath the back porch of the victim's house. The woman is dangerously malnourished and is so distraught, so terrified, she believes she is still locked inside a dark prison cell -- and that Darby is one of her fellow prisoners. Darby's investigation reveals that the woman, Rachel Swanson, has been missing for more than five years. And there are others. As Darby tries to get Rachel to talk about the other missing women and the horrors she endured, the killer known as Traveler is brought to light. As the race to find him heats up, Darby finds herself trying to unravel forensic clues about the case while attempting to uncover the existence of a killer who has eluded the police and FBI for more than two decades. A killer who, years ago, introduced Darby to violence and death. A killer who will use every means necessary to protect himself and to keep the missing women from ever being found. A breathless, gripping read from beginning to end, The Missing is an unforgettable story about a courageous woman whose past has literally come back to haunt her. Told with tremendous style at a breakneck pace, this is thriller writing at its best.

Among the praise for The Missing:

I devoured The Missing in one greedy, breathless sitting. This is a scary, breakneck ride with thrills that never let up.
—Tess Gerritsen

The Missing is the season's most unrelenting thriller. It will keep readers enthralled from its gripping opening chapters to its last shocking page.
—George Pelecanos

The smart money has long been on Chris Mooney, one of crime fiction's rising stars, and The Missing ably demonstrates why this is so. This is a page-turner written with great empathy, filled with strong, resilient characters that the reader will cheer and champion.
—Laura Lippman

A masterful thriller; dark and disturbing, with a tearing pace. Mooney writes like a man on fire.
—Linda Fairstein

The Missing is an absolutely gripping mix of suspense and mystery. Chris Mooney is a wonderful writer and in his hands this story is compelling, thrilling and touching.
—Michael Connelly

Scary story. Scary talent. I love this book.
—Lee Child

Read an excerpt from The Missing and an interview with Mooney by Ali Karim for "The Rap Sheet."

The Page 69 Test: Chris Mooney's The Missing.

--Marshal Zeringue