Caden O'Brien's Website

I’ve been a fan of Peter Straub’s since I first read Mystery back in 1990. Although I’ve seen him characterized as a “horror” writer, I’ve always thought his books had much more of a mystery/ghost story kind of feel to them than most horror books I’ve read. I know he’s co-written several books with Stephen King (and I haven’t read those books) but don’t know if those work are more typical of the horror genre than Straub’s solo works. Whatever the case, I just finished his 2003 publication Lost Boy, Lost Girl and give it an enthusiastic multi-thumbs-up.

A character that has appeared in several of Straub’s previous works (Koko, Mystery, The Throat), Tim Underhill, provides the viewpoint for much of the book. Underhill is a writer in New York City but hails from Millhaven, Illinois. At the start of the book, he’s gone back there for the sad funeral of his sister in law who committed suicide in a most determined way – using 3 pretty much fool-proof techniques to get the job done. Tim puzzles on the death, even though he knows that marriage to Tim’s bitter and disgruntled younger brother can’t have been easy.  It was Tim’s beautiful and sensitive 15 year old nephew Mark who found the body.

A week later, Tim returns to Millhaven because Mark has gone missing. The only clues lie in an abandoned and very creepy house behind Mark’s home – a house that captivated the boy and has a great deal to do with his disappearance.  A mysterious girl that no one but Mark seems to have seen also plays a role. On top of the scary doings at the house, a serial killer is cutting a swathe through the local teenage population, so tension is high.

Another character from previous books is Tom Pasmore, the brilliant and eccentric detective from Mystery and The Throat, plays a secondary role here. As Tim struggles to find out what happened to Mark, the feeling of evil stalking the innocent ramps up the scariness factor. I have to admit, I was reading this at night and there were parts that were so creepy I had the put the book down until daylight. LOL!

A twist in this book is the device of the unreliable narrator. While the creep factor is high and Tim’s anguish over Mark’s disappearance is genuine, there are many points when I wondered just exactly WHAT was I seeing here. Was everything as it was told to me as I read it, or could Tim be wrong on some points?? There’s an instance near the beginning where Tim is convinced he sees a murder taking place, only to find out that its a movie being filmed…

There’s a sequel to this book, In the Night Room, that I haven’t read yet.

Like all the books I like, Lost Boy, Lost Girl dragged me into another world. The scare factor was great, and the poignancy of a sensitive teen dealing with so much tragedy hits hard. I loved Mark, and his best buddy Jimbo, and found myself wanting to adopt them (thus breaking my kids-must-have-four-legs rule). Straub writes a great tale.