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And Then She Was Gone |
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 And Then She Was Gone bySusan McBride Mayhaven Publishing 238 pages, 1999 ISBN 1878044613 Reviewed by John A. Broussard, PhD Nominated for a Romantic Times Magazine Reviewers' Choice Award for Best First Mystery Novel Chosen as a selection for the Oprah Reading Cafe online, Summer 2000 One moment four-year-old Carrie Spencer is playing happily in Litchfield Park while her mother is chatting with a neighbor, the next moment Carrie is no longer in sight. And with that disappearance, suspicion, fear and indiscriminate accusations spread through the middle class suburb where crime had seemed so remote, something that could only happen elsewhere. Susan McBride in And Then She Was Gone tells a frightening story of a lost child and Detective Maggie Ryan’s desperate attempts to find her, as she battles to find herself and to solve the nightmares of her own childhood. Even after the child’s body is found in a dumpster and the police have arrested and charged a suspect, Ryan’s own memories force her to continue the search for the one she feels must have been Carrie’s murderer. Detective Ryan’s relentless investigation finds lightly stitched up seams in the town’s façade. Pets have been mutilated and killed, a man with a long record of child molestation is a coach at the local Y, and Carrie’s own father has left his previous occupation under a cloud. In addition, Ryan has to contend with Carrie’s older brother, who not only refuses to help the police but is openly hostile and almost expresses relief at Carrie’s death. And Then She Was Gone is Susan McBride’s first novel, yet it reveals a writer in the best storytelling tradition. It is a masterful piece of suspense writing that includes the underlying and crucial theme of Maggie Ryan’s self-examination, whereby she discovers the killer and in the process discovers much about herself. The reader will not only share in the grief of the mother whose child has been killed, but also in the poignant unraveling of Margaret Ryan’s inner secrets. |
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