The Missing is Sarah Langan's second novel, following close on the heels of her highly successful The Keeper. A lot of people have been comparing Ms. Langan with Stephen King, but after reading both of her books I feel that a more apt comparison would be Peter Straub. Like Mr. Straub, Sarah tends to create complex, interweaving plot lines that begin slow and create tension in the reader before picking up steam and barreling into satisfying finishes. For me, this isn't a bad thing; but in today's 'hurry up and let's get there' attitude among readers, this might be seen a drawback when it comes to breaking through to the next level.

Sarah seems to be trying to kick start The Missing with a little jolt, as evidenced by the first two sentences:

In winter the dark creeps up on you. I've hardly finished my dinner and the sky right now is black. There is no electricity anymore, so I navigate at night with candles.

This sets a nice foreboding tone, and in the following paragraphs she tells us how the town of Corpus Christi, Maine, used to be a thriving, friendly place to live but until the bad business with James Walker.

But then the story immediately takes a step backwards into normalcy, and begins introducing us to the main characters. This is where Sarah's reliance on her strong writing talents comes into play. She's not afraid to take the reader on a leisurely walk down a path which grows darker so slowly the reader might not even be aware of it at first.

Fans of the smash-the-horror-into-your-face style of writing that's so popular right now (Brian Keene, Michael McBride, and Shaun Jeffrey come to mind as masters of this scary, rollercoaster ride style) might have some trouble sailing these deceptively calm seas. Sarah's style is a throwback to some of the great (for me, at least) novels of the past few decades - Shadowlands, Twilight Eyes, Floating Dragon, Insomnia, and their kin); but those writers - Straub, King, Koontz - had an advantage: they'd already established themselves as masters of horror, so fan had no problem taking the slow boat ride before hitting the rapids. For a relative newcomer to try this, however, speaks of confidence and a willingness to defy the odds.

Luckily, Ms. Langan succeeds in delivering a masterpiece.

The Missing is, at its core, a zombie tale. The residents of Corpus Christi become infected by a virus that mutates them into flesh-craving monsters. But, like all good writers, Langan twists this stereotypical plot around and gives it a new life. Sub-plots take us down unexpected paths, and creates characters that seem totally real - people that have to deal with finances, infidelity, workplace problems, and the dating scene even as their world crashes down around them. And once she decides to turn on the juice, Langan isn't afraid to show us the guts and gore that any good zombie tale needs. The difference between her and lesser practitioners of the craft is the deft way she weaves the visceral together with the mental, leaving the reader with shivers that will resonate long after the image of the corpses have faded away.

If there is one problem with The Missing , it's that the book was written to be a sort of sequel to her first novel, The Keeper . The town destroyed in The Keeper happens to be the next town over from Corpus Christi, and the source of the virus. But at the same time, The Missing is written as a stand-alone novel; in fact, nowhere on the cover does it indicate that it's a sequel at all. I didn't even realize it until I was halfway through the book. Now, a lot of writers return over and over to familiar territory - for example, King setting so many stories in or near Castle Rock - so perhaps Langan did the same thing here, and the involvement of Bedford in the story is just a way of returning the reader (and writer) to a comfortable place. Or perhaps the publishing company didn't want to market it as a sequel, thinking sales might be better if people didn't think they had to read The Missing first.

Also, there are unresolved issues and questions in The Missing that line it up for a possible third in the series, which is something that annoys me in a way whenever I see it happen. Especially if you don't know when, or if, that third book might ever be released.

All in all, though, The Missing is a damn good book by a damn good writer, a writer with a knack for plotting and a really fantastic way with words.

If you like curling up with a good book that will take you to unexpected places and keep you up at night, The Missing is for you.



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JG Faherty is a writer of dark fiction. His most recent credits include Cemetery Dance #58, MagusZine, All Possible Worlds, and the Garden State Horror Writers' 2007 anthology, Dark Territories. He was the inaugural Fiction Editor at Doorways Magazine, and writes regular columns, book reviews, and interviews for the Horror Writers Association newsletter, FearZone, and several other online and print venues. You can visit him at www.jgfaherty.com.