Missing Pieces

by Jon Ripslinger

Kyle Donovan’s life is shattered when his mother goes missing and his father is accused of dismembering her and dumping her pieces into the Mississippi River. He expects his dad's trial for the crime to solve the mystery, but when it ends in a hung jury, Kyle must make a difficult live with the agonizing uncertainty that’s destroying him and his little sister, Kelly, or find the truth himself, no matter what the cost. Either way, he’ll lose at least one parent, but he might be able to salvage what’s left of a normal life for him and Kelly. Compelled by a desperate need to end the madness that his life has become, and with the help of Becky, one of the only people at school who will still talk to him, Kyle forces himself to follow a string of clues the police missed and struggles to face the terrible truth about his own role in his mother’s disappearance.

218 pages, Paperback

First published April 17, 2011

About the author

After Jon Ripslinger retired as a public high school English teacher, he began a career as an author. He has published many young adult novels and truly enjoys writing books for teens. He has also published numerous short stories in Woman’s World magazine.

Jon and his wife, Colette, live in Iowa. They are the proud parents of six children, and they have thirteen grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

When not working writing, Jon enjoys the outdoors, especially fishing. He waits patiently for the next “big one” to strike.

Reviews

[Carol Kean · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Based on a true story" is a sure way to get my attention. Written by a retired high school English teacher who likes Hemingway's style is another. Jon Ripslinger delivers with this story of an 18-year-old high school football getting flak from classmates for having a dad on trial for murder.

Ripslinger's years of experience with teenagers is manifest in his spot-on Point of View. While Kyle occasionally sounds wise for his years, he consistently sounds like an authentic teenage guy with bigger concerns than most people face even as adults. His mother is missing. His dad is Suspect #1 in her disappearance. Bullies harass Kyle and agitate him to fist-blows (and suspensions, as if Kyle didn't have trouble enough already). He has a troubled little sister to look out for, a football team wanting him to hurry back, a girlfriend's judgmental parents shunning him, but also a new friend and unexpected ally.

In my Kindle I highlighted numerous passages like this one:

"You get p^ssed often enough, gradually you get bitter. Bitter is like when something bad's been happening for a long while. The bad crawls under your skin and festers. It never goes away. I was bitter because my mom was missing—dead or alive, I didn't know. My dad had been accused of her murder but his trial had proven nothing. He seemed glad to have her gone and didn't seem interested in finding her. If I didn't do something, the truth about my mom's disappearance might never be known. Kelly and I might never put our lives back together.
"You'd be bitter, too."

Having studied far too many cold cases, I can attest that page after page rings true in this story. The stupid questions from reporters--"How do you feel" about your mother missing and presumed dead--sadly is all too accurate.

For young adult, this is riveting reading. For adults of any age, it's illuminating. For those who've lost a loved one and the case has gone cold, this is a must-read. I bought it, read it, and finished it one evening. The book is that good. The prose is first-rate.

I'm off to find more by this author.

[Grant Mougin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the concept for the novel: a son wondering if his Dad really was involved in the disappearance/possible murder of his wife. However, I feel the execution in this story was distinctly lacking.

Our main character has lots of different issues to tackle from that main question all the down to his own personal life (relationship with his sister, dating life, sports, etc.) but it never felt like we took enough time to really delve or explore those ideas in greater detail beyond the MC just feeling conflicted or angry about those individual situations.

I think that was the biggest issue: the MC felt overly passive, relying on other characters to really do the heavy lifting with pushing the narrative forward.

At the very least, it was cool reading a story that was based on events that happened in the Davenport, IA. Gotta appreciate getting a shout out in any form.

[Drea Carmen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Joyce Klindt was a real person who was maliciously destroyed by her abusive husband. Capitalizing on her death with trashy fiction is inappropriate, obscene, and just plain tacky.

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Missing Pieces" is a mystery suitable for the older teen, although stricter parents might object on grounds of language or content. Although there is a mystery that the protagonist, Kyle, sets out to solve, I found the psychological and sociological subtext to the story at least as compelling as the mystery. How Kyle and his younger sister Kelly deal with the disappearance of their mother, how the relationship between parent and child is often illogical when viewed from the outside, and the dynamics of a small town, all add significantly to the story. The defense mechanism that Kyle and Kelly have which allows them to envision a happy ending where, at least to me, it was obvious there was no plausible way for that to happen, actually helped drive the story rather than ruin its credibility. My only significant complaint about "Missing Pieces" are the courtroom scenes near the end, which didn’t ring true for me.

**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was fascinating reading a fictionalized account about a true local crime, a missing woman whose husband was suspected of murder and dumping her pieces into the Mississippi River. Great YA novel which will appeal especially to male reluctant readers. The characterization of the young male protagonist has the markings of a Gary Paulsen novel.

[Mary Davidsaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good YA book. The teenage son must discover the truth about his parents final fight. The stakes are high, but the teen finds an ally and the clues he needs. The author used facts from a real crime to build his plot.