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LOST BOY LOST GIRL is a novel that I fear is going to be lost, if not ignored, in the plethora of releases that greet the autumn season. This would be tragic, though not entirely without reason. Peter Straub attracted major audiences with novels such as GHOST STORY, SHADOWLAND and FLOATING DRAGON. He even co-wrote THE TALISMAN with Stephen King. Then, for some reason, his audience ... dwindled. Maybe it is due to the perception --- an erroneous one --- that Straub was not writing Peter Straub novels anymore. In fact, he was --- and is. But apart from a second collaboration with King on BLACK HOUSE, which is both a sequel of sorts to THE TALISMAN and a companion volume to King's DARK TOWER series, Straub has not been heard from recently. And greater is the pity that few, it seems, have noticed.
This is disappointing, because LOST BOY LOST GIRL is a novel that succeeds on so many (occasionally) contradictory levels that it has the potential to quietly become a classic over time. It may well be one of those novels that "bubbles under" saleswise, never really breaking into the all-important "charts" yet sailing along for years and years without ever going out of print. In this age of categorization, it is difficult to comfortably place LOST BOY LOST GIRL. It is, possibly, a ghost story, or a romance, or a mystery, or a thriller, even a domestic novel. Certainly it touches all of those genres and perhaps others. It is so enigmatic a novel that one almost overlooks how beautifully, wonderfully and fearfully told it is.
Much of LOST BOY LOST GIRL is told from the viewpoint of Timothy Underhill, a writer of some renown who leaves his home in New York City and returns to his hometown of Millhaven. Underhill's sister-in-law has committed suicide and his return to town for the funeral opens fresh wounds in his tenuous relationship with his brother, Philip. Philip is difficult at best, a man who seems to be, though not actively evil, wholly without redeeming social value. Mark, Philip's son and Timothy's nephew, is described as a beautiful boy, a fifteen-year-old on the cusp of adulthood and apparently unaware of the quiet magic his appearance and presence has upon people.
Mark's disappearance a week after the funeral is like a second death. Timothy returns again to Millhaven to doggedly search for Mark, either to find him or to learn his ultimate fate. He quickly learns that other boys have disappeared from the area and that Mark had become obsessed with an abandoned house in his neighborhood, so Timothy is thinking that there is a connection between the house and the missing boys. There is also some indication that a mysterious figure, somehow connected to the abandoned house, had been quietly stalking Mark in the days preceding his disappearance. Timothy slowly but painstakingly learns that Mark was discovering a connection between the house and his own heritage, and that his obsession with the house is awakening dangers from the past and the present.
LOST BOY LOST GIRL is a novel that needs to be read and reread. This may well be the best book of Straub's already brilliant career. The ending is an enigmatic one and, I think, very deliberately so. Straub has neatly crafted this tale so that any one of a number of conclusions may or may not be correct. LOST BOY LOST GIRL is a tale that will fascinate members of book discussion groups, college seminars and, most importantly, you.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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