The Disappearance
   J. F. Freedman
  1998 A Dutton Book NY USA
   ISBN: 0451197429


After a well-written prologue of the effects of El Nino in California we segue into Day One when Emma, the only daughter of a media mogul, is snatched.

The one person who has an idea of what might have happened is a sleepover friend and she thought she was dreaming. In the light of day, hope turns into dismay. The days add up with no sign of Emma or a ransom note. By week's end this kidnapping has turned into homicide. After a secret conference the dead girl's autopsy report is sealed and the case quietly goes inactive.

To begin with I found myself yelping: what about the parents and their alibis? What about the staff they employ? Why does the alarm system being turned off, ring no bells? What's all the guilt-tripping the mom does and why is the police force so craven?

In a year's time, the lead detective on the case has retired, Emma's parents have divorced, the house has sold, the staff scattered and the handsome, news anchorman who announced the kidnapping on the mogul's station is driving home after a farewell dinner. His career is about to take off big time when a cop pulls him over. What the cop sees in the car distracts him and a DUI ratchets up to a homicide when a search of the anchorman's home turns up more evidence. Turns out he's an intimate family friend. Turns out he's pleading innocence.

OK, so we have the set-up and I'm hooked. No way am I NOT going to finish this book. There isn't a character I like, what little sympathy I did have for the golden people has dried up and I'd rather not know any of them but that's about to change, and for the better.

Far to the north in the wilds along the coast, a former district attorney has been living in self-imposed isolation, hiding from a fall only high-flyers achieve. I like this fellow and his good woman Riva. Interesting people. It's taken three years for his dreams to recede and if the visitor hadn't come, he might have been content to stay put. But the visitor brings a challenge and a chance for redemption. Being the red-blooded fellow he is, our hero takes it up. Nice touch that his woman is also red-blooded.

Now the sparks fly as our hero, with lusty, life-affirming Riva at his side, works from the other side of the Bar, remembering what made a prosecuting attorney good and jousting for the defense. Together they open sealed documents, re-investigate family and friends and find some rather dirty laundry. It doesn't help that our hero suspects his client is lying through his teeth and that the arresting officer knows something he's not telling. How quickly the squeaky-clean exterior melts. And there's a killer on the loose taking shots.

The case goes to Court and the wrestling before the jury is riveting. When Riva finds a reluctant witness they have their break. While Emma's death is solved, everyone gets a dose of reality about how thin is the line between innocence and guilt, accident and intent, truth and lies.

I really liked this read, it's a skin-crawler! Don't get me wrong, I didn't like the subject one bit however, Mr. Freedman has written a fully fleshed yarn with the ingredients I insist in my reading: a difficult situation, shallow, vain villains and scarred, healing heroes. I'd make a guess at whodunit and I'd be wrong, so I'd bury my nose for another juicy segment. Mr. Freedman writes with excitement, care in details and a lustiness that makes for a fine read.
(04/12/99)

Rebecca