We Disappear: A Haunting Kansas Mystery of Missing Children, Meth Addiction, and Mothers and Sons (P.S.)

Scott Heim's We Disappear is another book that's been on my list and on my bookshelf for quite some time to read. I picked it up as an intro to my summer vacation since it was just under 300 pages, but finished it a week later before vacation even got started. I just couldn't put it down. The storyline is a bit of a heartfelt family saga with some mystery tossed in. Scott, a meth addict living in New York, returns to hometown Kansas to care for his dying mother who has cancer. Mom is obsessed, and has been for a long time, with missing children cases, creating scrap books and plastering her walls with newspaper columns and photos. She wants Scott to help her interview people about missing children while pretending that they are collecting information for a book. However, his mother's real intent is to solve a mystery from her own past before the cancer causes her to "disappear," while also continuing her strange obsession. This may all sound a bit bizarre but Heim plays out the storyline in a very natural matter-of-fact way making it not seem as odd as it probably sounds on the back of the book or in my description here. Another integral part that makes this such a good book is Heim's true talent for the written word. There were numerous passages and descriptions that were just haunting and beautiful. His metaphors are fresh and raw and he really digs under the skin of his characters to expose their fragility. Yes, they may sound crazy, high, drunk, stoned, or insane, and…

The use of commas and the sentence structure in the beginning of the book was actually kind of frustrating and choppy to read. Some people I've confided in about this said that the author had done this intentionally to elicit a certain emotion from the reader, but I'm not sure if it did anything for me other than make me put the book down for the first few weeks after I got it. Maybe I'm just stuck up, but I really didn't care for the way the book was written. Eventually picking it back up, I found that Scott Heim once again delivers and eccentric and beautiful, true to life story about human beings. The strength of this story definitely lies in the plot and rising action. My opinion is that the plot and storyline is actually extremely creative and touching, especially when you consider that Scott was inspired to write this after the death of his mother. The brief personal monologue at the end of the story really helped give me perspective on the author, and I can see why he's so well recognized. I'll definitely be picking up more Scott Heim when I get a chance. It was a good story that helped me get through a very tough time in my life, so thanks again Scott.