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Boy Still Missing

Review

Boy Still Missing

You know how sometimes a sensitive film about emotional issues is referred to as a "chick flick"? Well, John Searles's debut novel BOY STILL MISSING is anything but. It runs on a heavy dose of testosterone and ideas that we've seen examined in many a TV movie. If you're interested in hackneyed stories about drunken dads, mistresses, and the sons who sleep with them, then BOY STILL MISSING is right up your alley.

Our protagonist Dominick has a lousy life --- after all, it's swinging 1971, and he spends most of his time trying to make his mother's life easier by dragging his bingeing dad out of any number of sleazy bars. The dad not only has a penchant for the drunken bum life but he also has a mistress, a steamy and seductive woman named Edie. Dominick, of course, enters into a passionate affair with her and ends up getting involved in a strange and mysterious murder. Now, he finds out that his seemingly put-upon mom actually has some nasty secrets of her own, and he goes to New York to discover what they might be. Then he gets involved with a nice girl whose life he also puts in danger. This guy is a walking time bomb.

BOY STILL MISSING is part thriller, part erotic drama. Dominick means well but never does anything particularly nice and continues to get into more and more trouble. Each person he involves himself with, whether it's family or not, ends up leading him into the darkest places of his heart, rendering him virtually unable to do much good for himself or anyone else. I found his character weak and not very convincing, and his travails too Aaron Spelling-esque for their own good. I'm sure Searles, Cosmo's book editor, might be better off trying to listen to his own heart than recreating the melodramatic TV versions of someone else's.

Reviewed by Jana Siciliano on January 21, 2011

Boy Still Missing
by John Searles

  • Publication Date: March 1, 2001
  • Genres: Fiction
  • Hardcover: 304 pages
  • Publisher: William Morrow
  • ISBN-10: 0688175708
  • ISBN-13: 9780688175702