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One Boy Missing
It was a butcher on smoko who reported the man stashing the kid in the car boot. He didn't really know whether he'd seen anything at all, though. Maybe an abduction? Maybe just a stressed-out father.
Detective Bart Moy, newly returned to the country town where his ailing, cantankerous father still lives, finds nothing. As far as he can tell no one in Guilderton is missing a small boy. Still, he looks deeper into the butcher's story — after all, he had a son of his own once.
But when the boy does turn up, silent, apparently traumatised, things are no clearer. Who is he? Where did he come from and what happened to him?
For Moy, gaining the boy's trust becomes central not just to the case but to rebuilding his own life. From the wreckage of his grief, his dead marriage and his fractured relationship with his father may yet come a chance for something new.
A mystery, a meditation on fatherhood, a harrowing examination of love and loss: a new departure in literary crime from Stephen Orr.
Detective Bart Moy, newly returned to the country town where his ailing, cantankerous father still lives, finds nothing. As far as he can tell no one in Guilderton is missing a small boy. Still, he looks deeper into the butcher's story — after all, he had a son of his own once.
But when the boy does turn up, silent, apparently traumatised, things are no clearer. Who is he? Where did he come from and what happened to him?
For Moy, gaining the boy's trust becomes central not just to the case but to rebuilding his own life. From the wreckage of his grief, his dead marriage and his fractured relationship with his father may yet come a chance for something new.
A mystery, a meditation on fatherhood, a harrowing examination of love and loss: a new departure in literary crime from Stephen Orr.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 29, 2014
3 people are currently reading
178 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Orr
19 books31 followersStephen Orr is an Australian writer of novels, short stories and non-fiction. His works are set in uniquely Australian settings, including coastal towns, outback regions and the Australian suburbs. His fiction explores the dynamics of Australian families and communities.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
August 6, 2019
A butcher was out having a smoke behind his shop when he hears screaming and sees a man forcing a small boy into the boot of a car, then speeding away. He calls the police.
Detective Bart Moy identifies himself and begins taking the report from the butcher, Justin Davids. Davids says that the boy was maybe 10 years old, medium height with brown hair, wearing dirty pajamas, and no shoes.
He describes the man as big, muscly, in his 30's, dark hair, a goatee, wearing a T-shirt. Moy asks for a description of the car. 'Dark color, blue I think,' the butcher began. 'Falcon. Early 80's... you know the Boxy ones. '
One scenario could be that the boy was playing in the alley and his father came to get him. Stranger things have happened, Moy thinks. But what Davids says next eliminates that possibility. He tells Moy that the boy was kicking and screaming, struggling to get away. Then, the butcher says "Mate, the boy was scared f-in' shitless."
Now it's a kidnapping. And potentially more than that.
Moy has just moved back to the country town of Guilderton where he grew up. Guilderton is a small town in the middle of the wheatbelt where crime is usually about stolen timber, truancy, and graffiti, not enough to justify a full time detective. But Moy has returned for other reasons. He's come back to help his churlish and disagreeable ailing father whether he wants it or not. The other option, Moy tells his father, is a nursing home.
As Moy begins his investigation into the kidnapping, he figures that the boy couldn't have gone far. Could he? Guilderton is more or less in the middle of no where. Further, there are always kids absent from school this time of year, helping their families harvest the wheat. There could be a dozen places the boy could be.
He drives around town looking for him, at the park and other places kids hang out but no one has seen him. No missing, absent, uncounted for kids reported. By late afternoon he's found absolutely nothing. Not the car, not the man, not even a trace of the missing boy. Still, somewhere out there is a very frightened little boy, wearing nothing but old, dirty pajamas with holes, and no shoes. Worse yet, nobody seems to be missing him. How could he just have vanished into thin air? Despite all the dead ends, Moy is not about to abandon the search for the missing boy. After all, he knows what it's like to lose a child. This boy is going to be found.
I had high hopes for One Boy Missing by Stephen Orr but it started very slowly as it seemed to meander from one indistinct subject to another making it difficult to follow what direction the story was headed.
Having said that, I didn't give up and I'm glad I stuck with it. After the first several chapters the plot suddenly became evident and the story took off like a rocket! From then on, I couldn't put it down. It was exciting, taunt with uncertainty and anticipation! I held my breath to the end.
Then, crash. The ending was a bit confusing, leaving me questioning what exactly happened to the 'bad guy'. It was so disappointing after I'd raced through the pages right up to that last page. I'm not sure that makes any sense to other readers but I really don't have another way to describe it. Still, that's just my perception and while a had some problems with it, overall the story had me on the edge of my seat and I enjoyed the characters very much. So it's a 3★ rating for me.
Detective Bart Moy identifies himself and begins taking the report from the butcher, Justin Davids. Davids says that the boy was maybe 10 years old, medium height with brown hair, wearing dirty pajamas, and no shoes.
He describes the man as big, muscly, in his 30's, dark hair, a goatee, wearing a T-shirt. Moy asks for a description of the car. 'Dark color, blue I think,' the butcher began. 'Falcon. Early 80's... you know the Boxy ones. '
One scenario could be that the boy was playing in the alley and his father came to get him. Stranger things have happened, Moy thinks. But what Davids says next eliminates that possibility. He tells Moy that the boy was kicking and screaming, struggling to get away. Then, the butcher says "Mate, the boy was scared f-in' shitless."
Now it's a kidnapping. And potentially more than that.
Moy has just moved back to the country town of Guilderton where he grew up. Guilderton is a small town in the middle of the wheatbelt where crime is usually about stolen timber, truancy, and graffiti, not enough to justify a full time detective. But Moy has returned for other reasons. He's come back to help his churlish and disagreeable ailing father whether he wants it or not. The other option, Moy tells his father, is a nursing home.
As Moy begins his investigation into the kidnapping, he figures that the boy couldn't have gone far. Could he? Guilderton is more or less in the middle of no where. Further, there are always kids absent from school this time of year, helping their families harvest the wheat. There could be a dozen places the boy could be.
He drives around town looking for him, at the park and other places kids hang out but no one has seen him. No missing, absent, uncounted for kids reported. By late afternoon he's found absolutely nothing. Not the car, not the man, not even a trace of the missing boy. Still, somewhere out there is a very frightened little boy, wearing nothing but old, dirty pajamas with holes, and no shoes. Worse yet, nobody seems to be missing him. How could he just have vanished into thin air? Despite all the dead ends, Moy is not about to abandon the search for the missing boy. After all, he knows what it's like to lose a child. This boy is going to be found.
I had high hopes for One Boy Missing by Stephen Orr but it started very slowly as it seemed to meander from one indistinct subject to another making it difficult to follow what direction the story was headed.
Having said that, I didn't give up and I'm glad I stuck with it. After the first several chapters the plot suddenly became evident and the story took off like a rocket! From then on, I couldn't put it down. It was exciting, taunt with uncertainty and anticipation! I held my breath to the end.
Then, crash. The ending was a bit confusing, leaving me questioning what exactly happened to the 'bad guy'. It was so disappointing after I'd raced through the pages right up to that last page. I'm not sure that makes any sense to other readers but I really don't have another way to describe it. Still, that's just my perception and while a had some problems with it, overall the story had me on the edge of my seat and I enjoyed the characters very much. So it's a 3★ rating for me.
September 12, 2014
Set in the heat, dust and community of the South Australian Mallee there is much that is visceral in ONE BOY MISSING. From the opening in which a young, vulnerable boy desperately tries to avoid a pursuer, to the character of DS Bart Moy who is back in Guilderton, possibly because his elderly father needs help, but mostly because he's running away from his past. He's lost and damaged, and there really doesn't seem to be much reason for him to be in the town that hasn't had a Detective presence for years.
Until the inexplicable report of a kidnapping or abduction of a young boy, even though no child from the area is missing. It looks like it might be quickly resolved when a boy of about the right age is discovered camping out, and stealing from local shopkeepers to eat. Aged around eight or nine, he initially refuses to speak, and when he does, enough details are drip fed to provide more questions than answers.
ONE BOY MISSING is a slow reveal book. Everybody has something to hide, and lots to fear. The story of Moy's own past, and the breakdown of his marriage after the death of his young son builds, as does young Patrick's own story. The triggers that convince Patrick to trust, share and talk are built cautiously and carefully, in no small part due to mutual pain. The connection between the young Patrick and the irascible old man, Moy's father, is part of the strength here - Patrick's desire to reach out and George's need to let go, accept his age and infirmity which he can't do so easily with Moy. There are also secrets everywhere - in Moy's own family, in Patrick's past, in the crimes that have been committed.
The relationship between these three males is both the focus and strength of this book. It's touching, moving, worrying and informative. There's a real sense of truth and honesty about the difficulties between father and son, son and lost boy, men in general, men who make mistakes, lives that go off the rails and the way that they try to heal themselves. There's also a realness to the character of George in particular, which was frequently moving - an old man, the farm lost years ago, a wife dead years ago, a son that's moved on, age, infirmity and isolation looming.
There is crime at the centre of this story, as the impetus for Patrick to be running wild, as the reason for Moy to be searching for an answer. But that crime is less important than the evolving relationships. Most definitely a character study, ONE BOY MISSING weaves the past and present into mistakes and good deeds. It also has a few points to make about the good and bad of rural communities.
There's a sense of place as well, and a very realistic portrayal of a town, on the edge of a farming community struggling against the weather and the downturn in farming conditions. There is a cast of supporting characters - the casserole provider and curtain twitcher, new and old cops, hermits and eccentrics. For those that know those sorts of small Mallee towns it feels right, and the idea that a young boy, and his family might be in the area, and yet not known about, is stark and discomforting.
The pace also seems to reflect the place, and the characters. Laconic and unpressured Moy is prepared to give Patrick the time and space to settle, to relax. And the dialogue is pitch perfect. It's such a joy to read something where every word, every exchange is right. It works to read, and it works if you say it out loud. Cannot emphasis enough what a joy that was.
Not your traditional crime novel, ONE BOY MISSING is engaging, moving and sometimes discomforting. Love it when something like this comes along and breaks a few rules.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie...
Until the inexplicable report of a kidnapping or abduction of a young boy, even though no child from the area is missing. It looks like it might be quickly resolved when a boy of about the right age is discovered camping out, and stealing from local shopkeepers to eat. Aged around eight or nine, he initially refuses to speak, and when he does, enough details are drip fed to provide more questions than answers.
ONE BOY MISSING is a slow reveal book. Everybody has something to hide, and lots to fear. The story of Moy's own past, and the breakdown of his marriage after the death of his young son builds, as does young Patrick's own story. The triggers that convince Patrick to trust, share and talk are built cautiously and carefully, in no small part due to mutual pain. The connection between the young Patrick and the irascible old man, Moy's father, is part of the strength here - Patrick's desire to reach out and George's need to let go, accept his age and infirmity which he can't do so easily with Moy. There are also secrets everywhere - in Moy's own family, in Patrick's past, in the crimes that have been committed.
The relationship between these three males is both the focus and strength of this book. It's touching, moving, worrying and informative. There's a real sense of truth and honesty about the difficulties between father and son, son and lost boy, men in general, men who make mistakes, lives that go off the rails and the way that they try to heal themselves. There's also a realness to the character of George in particular, which was frequently moving - an old man, the farm lost years ago, a wife dead years ago, a son that's moved on, age, infirmity and isolation looming.
There is crime at the centre of this story, as the impetus for Patrick to be running wild, as the reason for Moy to be searching for an answer. But that crime is less important than the evolving relationships. Most definitely a character study, ONE BOY MISSING weaves the past and present into mistakes and good deeds. It also has a few points to make about the good and bad of rural communities.
There's a sense of place as well, and a very realistic portrayal of a town, on the edge of a farming community struggling against the weather and the downturn in farming conditions. There is a cast of supporting characters - the casserole provider and curtain twitcher, new and old cops, hermits and eccentrics. For those that know those sorts of small Mallee towns it feels right, and the idea that a young boy, and his family might be in the area, and yet not known about, is stark and discomforting.
The pace also seems to reflect the place, and the characters. Laconic and unpressured Moy is prepared to give Patrick the time and space to settle, to relax. And the dialogue is pitch perfect. It's such a joy to read something where every word, every exchange is right. It works to read, and it works if you say it out loud. Cannot emphasis enough what a joy that was.
Not your traditional crime novel, ONE BOY MISSING is engaging, moving and sometimes discomforting. Love it when something like this comes along and breaks a few rules.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie...
March 8, 2014
Three and a half stars.I was so looking forward to reading this after reading some reviews of it. I adored the cover, both in appearance and feel, and felt happy to dive right in. By the time I got to page 3 and was confronted with two incidents language I find offensive I was beginning to think that maybe I wasn’t going to enjoy reading it or even finish it at all. But it’s hard to turn away from the story of a child being shoved into the boot of car and someone looking to solve that crime and others that occur in the small country town of Guilderton, which sounds a thoroughly depressing place to live. Bart Moy, a police detective who grew up in the town and has returned to care for his father, George, does his best to find out not only about the abducted boy but his family.
While trying to solve this case and others, he has flashback to his own tragedy with his young son Charlie. I did find the child Patrick to be rather too articulate for a nine year old boy given the background he came from and experiences he had had. I wasn’t convinced either that a young boy would so easily be left in the care of a single male detective. That, plus the repeated bad language littered throughout the book and used by nearly all except the child and the neighbour with her casseroles and midnight ironing, meant I rated this lower than I might otherwise have. I know the common assumption is that everybody uses that sort of language all the time. I’m here to say, the people I know don’t and I get tired of being subjected to it in books. The story would have worked without it and been a better story in my opinion. A lot of the time I give up when I encounter too much language in a book. However despite the language, the story kept drawing me back. I found it easily readable and enjoyed it more than I initially expected to, though I did found find the ending a bit contrived.
While trying to solve this case and others, he has flashback to his own tragedy with his young son Charlie. I did find the child Patrick to be rather too articulate for a nine year old boy given the background he came from and experiences he had had. I wasn’t convinced either that a young boy would so easily be left in the care of a single male detective. That, plus the repeated bad language littered throughout the book and used by nearly all except the child and the neighbour with her casseroles and midnight ironing, meant I rated this lower than I might otherwise have. I know the common assumption is that everybody uses that sort of language all the time. I’m here to say, the people I know don’t and I get tired of being subjected to it in books. The story would have worked without it and been a better story in my opinion. A lot of the time I give up when I encounter too much language in a book. However despite the language, the story kept drawing me back. I found it easily readable and enjoyed it more than I initially expected to, though I did found find the ending a bit contrived.
January 21, 2018
One Boy Missing is the fifth novel by Australian author, Stephen Orr. Unable to put behind him the accidental death of his son, Charlie, and his subsequent divorce, Detective Sergeant Bart Moy returns to his rather dreary home town of Guilderton in outback New South Wales. His father, George is ageing and being there to help out is as good an excuse as any to escape the city. When the local butcher sees a young boy being roughly shoved into a car boot, the police are puzzled as no-one in town claims to be missing a child.
While apparently only going through the motions with his duties much of the time, this case strikes a chord with Moy and he is determined to get to the bottom of the abduction. Interspersed into Moy’s narration of present-day occurrences are the flash-backs to the events surrounding Charlie’s death that constantly haunt him.
The characters with whom Orr populates his novel will be familiar to many readers: the cranky old bloke (who is especially well-drawn); the nosy neighbour with the casserole offering; the laconic desk sergeant; the belligerent old hermit; the contemptuous young shop assistant; the apathetic cop.
The dialogue is completely natural and the interactions between Bart, George and the boy are often funny and sometimes quite poignant. The feel of the country town and its inhabitants is expertly rendered. As well as exploring the father/son relationship, Orr touches on the destruction of reputation, the loss of a loved one, the sense of community and what it takes to become a “local”, and loss of independence in ageing.
This literary crime novel tootles along at country town pace then rushes headlong into a gripping climax. Fans of Orr’s novels will not be disappointed with this one; newcomers to his work will no doubt seek out more of it.
While apparently only going through the motions with his duties much of the time, this case strikes a chord with Moy and he is determined to get to the bottom of the abduction. Interspersed into Moy’s narration of present-day occurrences are the flash-backs to the events surrounding Charlie’s death that constantly haunt him.
The characters with whom Orr populates his novel will be familiar to many readers: the cranky old bloke (who is especially well-drawn); the nosy neighbour with the casserole offering; the laconic desk sergeant; the belligerent old hermit; the contemptuous young shop assistant; the apathetic cop.
The dialogue is completely natural and the interactions between Bart, George and the boy are often funny and sometimes quite poignant. The feel of the country town and its inhabitants is expertly rendered. As well as exploring the father/son relationship, Orr touches on the destruction of reputation, the loss of a loved one, the sense of community and what it takes to become a “local”, and loss of independence in ageing.
This literary crime novel tootles along at country town pace then rushes headlong into a gripping climax. Fans of Orr’s novels will not be disappointed with this one; newcomers to his work will no doubt seek out more of it.
June 28, 2014
I've had this sitting on my Kindle for ages and picked it up 3 days ago when unable to bother reaching for the short stories I was reading.
The author is a South Australian and the book is set in a fictional sleepy Mallee town, a setting which caused me some confusion as he seemed to grab bits of other towns I know to make up Guilderton.
The story moves along well and the characters are well developed, even if the plot is a little improbable. I'm pretty sure that if there was a crime involving murder, arson and missing children anywhere in South Australia there would be more than one police officer assigned to look into it. However, I was very happy to spend the entire afternoon finishing it today and was not sorry to have done so.
Very satisfying.
The author is a South Australian and the book is set in a fictional sleepy Mallee town, a setting which caused me some confusion as he seemed to grab bits of other towns I know to make up Guilderton.
The story moves along well and the characters are well developed, even if the plot is a little improbable. I'm pretty sure that if there was a crime involving murder, arson and missing children anywhere in South Australia there would be more than one police officer assigned to look into it. However, I was very happy to spend the entire afternoon finishing it today and was not sorry to have done so.
Very satisfying.
March 24, 2016
Yes it features a police officer who returns to the town where he grew up to find a new life after he accidentally killed his son. Yes there is a missing child, a murder and mystery. But no, this is more a story about finding hope, love and family than a crime novel.
I liked the crisp writing style, the honesty of the copper, the dialogue he has with his ageing father and the way he communicates with the lost boy (once he was found). Easy to read and very enjoyable.
I liked the crisp writing style, the honesty of the copper, the dialogue he has with his ageing father and the way he communicates with the lost boy (once he was found). Easy to read and very enjoyable.
March 4, 2014
A mystery to the end.......it was not just a crime book but a story of a number of lost people, and in the end what makes up a family?
July 11, 2015
One Boy Missing by Stephen Orr is a highly recommended police procedural set in Australia.
Detective Inspector Bart Moy is tired and close to being washed out as a detective. He has returned to the small agricultural town of Guilderton, New South Wales, to help care for his aging father and also to try and recover from the loss of his son, Charlie. When a butcher reports that he saw a man stash a young boy into the trunk (boot) of his car, Bart is looking at the case as a possible abduction, but the case becomes difficult since no one seems to be missing a child.
When a 9 year old boy is found and identified as the child thrown into the trunk, Bart tries to make a connection with him and get him to speak, but winning the trust of this boy is hard to do and it takes a long time to just get him to admit his first name. While trying to solve this case, and another, Bart is experiencing flashbacks and dreams about his own son. Bart's father, George, is a real curmudgeon and seems to be becoming much more difficult to handle.
While this is a well-paced literary police procedural, it is also a character study of the men and their personal relationships while dealing with life's changes - especially between fathers and sons. The dialogue between characters is very well done. Bart along with almost every character in this book is suffering or keeping a secret and struggling with trying to find a way to heal or a direction to take. While solving the case is an impetus for action, the bigger resolution the characters need is an emotional healing.
Orr does an exceptional job keeping the interest high in his characters while the case is slowly being investigated. The pacing is good, but it is slow until a point toward the end of the book where an event happens that set my heart pounding. It also marks an important change in the relationship between the characters.
Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Text Publishing Company for review purposes.
Detective Inspector Bart Moy is tired and close to being washed out as a detective. He has returned to the small agricultural town of Guilderton, New South Wales, to help care for his aging father and also to try and recover from the loss of his son, Charlie. When a butcher reports that he saw a man stash a young boy into the trunk (boot) of his car, Bart is looking at the case as a possible abduction, but the case becomes difficult since no one seems to be missing a child.
When a 9 year old boy is found and identified as the child thrown into the trunk, Bart tries to make a connection with him and get him to speak, but winning the trust of this boy is hard to do and it takes a long time to just get him to admit his first name. While trying to solve this case, and another, Bart is experiencing flashbacks and dreams about his own son. Bart's father, George, is a real curmudgeon and seems to be becoming much more difficult to handle.
While this is a well-paced literary police procedural, it is also a character study of the men and their personal relationships while dealing with life's changes - especially between fathers and sons. The dialogue between characters is very well done. Bart along with almost every character in this book is suffering or keeping a secret and struggling with trying to find a way to heal or a direction to take. While solving the case is an impetus for action, the bigger resolution the characters need is an emotional healing.
Orr does an exceptional job keeping the interest high in his characters while the case is slowly being investigated. The pacing is good, but it is slow until a point toward the end of the book where an event happens that set my heart pounding. It also marks an important change in the relationship between the characters.
Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Text Publishing Company for review purposes.
March 15, 2024
The publisher’s blurb calls Stephen Orr’s new novel, One Boy Missing ‘literary crime’ but this novel is more about the search for hope than for a solution to a crime.
Detective Bart Moy returns to a dreary country town to look after his cantankerous old father, and finds himself trying to solve a case that picks open the barely-healed wound of losing his own child. It is not until late in the novel that we learn how this happens so I won’t spoil things by explaining, except to say that Bart is really only going through the motions, plodding through the day’s work, absorbing the routine contempt that so many people dish out to police, and tolerating the nagging that he gets from his superior officer in the city.
And then there is a chilling report of a child being dragged into the boot of a car and abducted. What makes this case odd is that there are no parents frantic with worry about him. It’s the local butcher who sees the abduction, and no one else. Days go by and there are no reports of missing children. It begins to look as if it never happened. But then the child is found, traumatised and silent. No one knows his name or identity. It becomes Bart’s job to try to get this child talking, to find out what’s happened. But whereas the standard tropes of a crime novel involve a drip feed of clues for the reader to try to assemble, the silence of this damaged child means that the only way that events can be pieced together is for the boy to tell his story including the parts he is at pains to conceal. No amount of reader cunning could lead to a whodunit moment; it’s not the author’s intent.
To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2014/02/16/on...
Detective Bart Moy returns to a dreary country town to look after his cantankerous old father, and finds himself trying to solve a case that picks open the barely-healed wound of losing his own child. It is not until late in the novel that we learn how this happens so I won’t spoil things by explaining, except to say that Bart is really only going through the motions, plodding through the day’s work, absorbing the routine contempt that so many people dish out to police, and tolerating the nagging that he gets from his superior officer in the city.
And then there is a chilling report of a child being dragged into the boot of a car and abducted. What makes this case odd is that there are no parents frantic with worry about him. It’s the local butcher who sees the abduction, and no one else. Days go by and there are no reports of missing children. It begins to look as if it never happened. But then the child is found, traumatised and silent. No one knows his name or identity. It becomes Bart’s job to try to get this child talking, to find out what’s happened. But whereas the standard tropes of a crime novel involve a drip feed of clues for the reader to try to assemble, the silence of this damaged child means that the only way that events can be pieced together is for the boy to tell his story including the parts he is at pains to conceal. No amount of reader cunning could lead to a whodunit moment; it’s not the author’s intent.
To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2014/02/16/on...
January 27, 2019
Detective Sergeant Bart Moy has accepted his decline. He’s lost his son and his wife, realised he’s reached the peak of his career and has returned to his hometown to look after his ailing father – a town he will always be an outsider in. When a local butcher reports seeing a young boy thrown into a car boot, but no one seems to be missing a son or know anything, Moy finds himself stirred from doldrums of his life to try and make sense of what happened.
One Boy Missing is a bit of a disappointment for me. I’d picked it up after loving Stephen Orr’s The Hands, and it really doesn’t come close to matching it in terms of quality. The dialogue and prose is just not as sharp, the characters not as detailed and the story meanders. Furthermore, if I judge it as a crime novel, it also doesn’t deliver – there’s a few of seemingly random events that do combine into one mystery, but there are details that are left unclear which makes it unsatisfying. That something horrible happened is clear, but just what it was and who was responsible is unclear.
It is a remarkably easy book to read – the pages just slipped by – and I loved the themes of recovery and the found family that remained central to the book. Although I did not find the characters as interesting and as complicated I would’ve liked, I did find them sympathetic and likeable.
This, for me, was an average read. There are strong parts and it was doubtlessly engrossing, but it just didn’t quite gel together.
One Boy Missing is a bit of a disappointment for me. I’d picked it up after loving Stephen Orr’s The Hands, and it really doesn’t come close to matching it in terms of quality. The dialogue and prose is just not as sharp, the characters not as detailed and the story meanders. Furthermore, if I judge it as a crime novel, it also doesn’t deliver – there’s a few of seemingly random events that do combine into one mystery, but there are details that are left unclear which makes it unsatisfying. That something horrible happened is clear, but just what it was and who was responsible is unclear.
It is a remarkably easy book to read – the pages just slipped by – and I loved the themes of recovery and the found family that remained central to the book. Although I did not find the characters as interesting and as complicated I would’ve liked, I did find them sympathetic and likeable.
This, for me, was an average read. There are strong parts and it was doubtlessly engrossing, but it just didn’t quite gel together.
September 30, 2014
Set in a fictional South Australian rural town, DS Bart Moy has returned to his hometown to head up the small police department, look after his aging father and recover from the grief of losing his family. While reacquainting himself with the town he left so long ago and the father he never got along with, someone witnesses the kidnapping of a young boy who no one recognizes. The boy is eventually found but he is traumatized and unwilling to say anything. As the ‘investigation’ proceeds, orders from on high are ignored and the ‘Rule Book’ is tossed out the window. Suspicions dart in all directions. The strategy for finding the truth becomes an elaborate game of cat and mouse and all the players will be changed in the process. This is a police procedural unlike any other I have read - both a totally engaging psychological portrait and a suspenseful page turner to the very end. Extraordinary.
May 7, 2014
Have been saving this one to read on my trip and so glad I did. Once I picked it up, I just couldn't put it down.
One Boy Missing would have to be one of the best Aussie/YA/Small town crime books I've read since Jasper Jones. All the characters are so well defined but they're also just that little bit off centre too. The setting is Guilderton, a remote wheat belt town that carries just enough small town prejudice and gossip to keep the pace moving along. A good dose of intrigue is added through the description of its endless dry fields, ramshackle farms and abandoned buildings. The dialogue too is perfectly pitched and the use of slang added to the true Aussie flavour.
Just loved the thread about Elizabeth that seemed to be running almost separately throughout the story and then suddenly fell into place.
This has to win prizes - lots of them!
One Boy Missing would have to be one of the best Aussie/YA/Small town crime books I've read since Jasper Jones. All the characters are so well defined but they're also just that little bit off centre too. The setting is Guilderton, a remote wheat belt town that carries just enough small town prejudice and gossip to keep the pace moving along. A good dose of intrigue is added through the description of its endless dry fields, ramshackle farms and abandoned buildings. The dialogue too is perfectly pitched and the use of slang added to the true Aussie flavour.
Just loved the thread about Elizabeth that seemed to be running almost separately throughout the story and then suddenly fell into place.
This has to win prizes - lots of them!
June 9, 2015
A great, great story. A butcher observes a boy being manhandled into the trunk of a car, and the car then beats a hasty retreat. He reports this to the police, but they can't find any evidence of a boy missing. Nobody has called the police. All the boys in his age range [10-12] are in school, and the two who aren't have been accounted for. What in the world is going on?? A boy missing when there's no boy missing???
But Detective Sargeant Bart Moy just can't let go. He puzzles and investigates and asks questions and scratches the surface and nudges people until some start reacting.
A scrupulously researched, well written detective story of the first order.
But Detective Sargeant Bart Moy just can't let go. He puzzles and investigates and asks questions and scratches the surface and nudges people until some start reacting.
A scrupulously researched, well written detective story of the first order.
March 30, 2014
This was a slow burner. It took me a few chapters but then couldn't put it down till I finished it. It is set in rural Australia (South?) but it seemed more like small town USA. A boy is found but no- one seems to have missed him. The story is told from the perspective of a tired cop who has lost his boy and still seeks him everywhere. Very well knitted together.
March 23, 2016
A well-written and easy to read mystery about a country detective as he seeks to find a missing boy and his perplexing background. Very evocative of the Australian rural landscape and the complex characters living in a small town.
March 16, 2015
Very enjoyable Australian crime. The character development was great. I felt as if Moy was a merger of Jack Irish and Cormoran Strike.
January 10, 2016
Couldn't put it down. A crime story with more of a focus on the male interactions within families. Would hope there are compassionate detectives like Bart in the real world.
August 1, 2018
A great read; local and character driven.Ideal for readers wanting mystery, a sympathetic protagonist and a 'yarn' that winds you in.
September 8, 2020
If you like Jane Harper's The Dry, chances are you'll enjoy this claustrophobic small town Australian mystery
March 18, 2019
3.5 stars. I wanted to give this novel more but I felt it was held back by a few structural issues. The story is solid however lacks any urgency which a book like this requires to push the narrative forward. And in an opposite effect, the last 10% of the book feels rushed, with the plot amped up and over almost too quick. The ending didn't land 100% for me however it was resolved. The relationships and the outback Australian setting are rounded and descriptive, but sometimes I feel lack flare and are a little too safe but that is my own personal opinion.
I enjoyed this read, it leaves the reader feeling optimistic. When this book flys is when the author takes risks and gets things out there. I will read more from this Author.
I enjoyed this read, it leaves the reader feeling optimistic. When this book flys is when the author takes risks and gets things out there. I will read more from this Author.
October 11, 2017
The writing was quite good but the story didn't grab me.
November 18, 2017
Real score 4.11.
June 12, 2018
3.5 stars. A good book. As an Australian I could completely picture this rural town, and believe the towns folk. Great imagery.
February 10, 2017
‘People don’t just appear from nowhere and then disappear into thin air.’
In Guilderton in country South Australia, a butcher reports seeing a boy being stashed in a car boot. Detective Bart Moy, who has recently returned to Guilderton to be near his aging father (George), finds nothing. No one seems to be missing a boy, but Moy keeps looking. Bart Moy once had a son of his own, and the thought of a missing boy aged about eight or nine weighs heavily on his mind.
The boy turns up, but he won’t answer any questions. Who is he, where did he come from and what has happened to him?
‘You can’t make a fella do what he doesn’t want to.’
Bart Moy sets about gaining the boy’s trust. And when the woman caring for the boy falls ill, Moy takes him into his own home.
I turned each page wondering about the boy’s story, wondering whether Bart Moy could overcome his own demons, and wondering how Bart and his father George would find some middle ground in their relationship. George needs Bart’s help, but he only wants to accept it on his own terms. Bart wishes his father would accept that he needs help, and as the two of them work out some new terms to their father/son relationship, the boy gradually comes to trust them both.
Even when Bart works out who the boy is, there are other pieces of the puzzle to be put together. The boy is afraid of what he might lose. George has his own views on the best way to proceed, while Bart has other decisions to make. Three well-developed, believable characters.
This is a crime story with a difference. For me, by the end of this novel, the crime aspect was less important than what might happen in the future. This is the second of Mr Orr’s novels I have read, and I’ll soon be seeking out the next one.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
In Guilderton in country South Australia, a butcher reports seeing a boy being stashed in a car boot. Detective Bart Moy, who has recently returned to Guilderton to be near his aging father (George), finds nothing. No one seems to be missing a boy, but Moy keeps looking. Bart Moy once had a son of his own, and the thought of a missing boy aged about eight or nine weighs heavily on his mind.
The boy turns up, but he won’t answer any questions. Who is he, where did he come from and what has happened to him?
‘You can’t make a fella do what he doesn’t want to.’
Bart Moy sets about gaining the boy’s trust. And when the woman caring for the boy falls ill, Moy takes him into his own home.
I turned each page wondering about the boy’s story, wondering whether Bart Moy could overcome his own demons, and wondering how Bart and his father George would find some middle ground in their relationship. George needs Bart’s help, but he only wants to accept it on his own terms. Bart wishes his father would accept that he needs help, and as the two of them work out some new terms to their father/son relationship, the boy gradually comes to trust them both.
Even when Bart works out who the boy is, there are other pieces of the puzzle to be put together. The boy is afraid of what he might lose. George has his own views on the best way to proceed, while Bart has other decisions to make. Three well-developed, believable characters.
This is a crime story with a difference. For me, by the end of this novel, the crime aspect was less important than what might happen in the future. This is the second of Mr Orr’s novels I have read, and I’ll soon be seeking out the next one.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
March 24, 2014
Finished reading “One Boy Missing” by Stephen Orr, March 2014.
This was really good. The first chapter almost put me off – the writing seemed quite jerky, as though it needed some editorial help. But then it settled down and flowed. You could overlook the improbability of the situation, that a policeman would take a lost-boy-found into his home while he very slowly looked into the details of the case.
The dialogue was excellent. The prolonged extraction of information from the boy was entirely credible, it, and the relationship between boy, cop and cop's father, was more the story than the whodunnit aspect.
One thing really did jar. It was set in the Mallee wheat belt but although the locations were fictitious, they had names of other places, screwing up the geography in my head, especially that the sea seemed far too near to where the action was happening. I can't help but think using real names and real geography would have been better. If you don't know the Mallee, of course, then it doesn't matter.
This was really good. The first chapter almost put me off – the writing seemed quite jerky, as though it needed some editorial help. But then it settled down and flowed. You could overlook the improbability of the situation, that a policeman would take a lost-boy-found into his home while he very slowly looked into the details of the case.
The dialogue was excellent. The prolonged extraction of information from the boy was entirely credible, it, and the relationship between boy, cop and cop's father, was more the story than the whodunnit aspect.
One thing really did jar. It was set in the Mallee wheat belt but although the locations were fictitious, they had names of other places, screwing up the geography in my head, especially that the sea seemed far too near to where the action was happening. I can't help but think using real names and real geography would have been better. If you don't know the Mallee, of course, then it doesn't matter.
February 2, 2014
This book was quite a disappointment for me despite the promotion that preceded it.
It follows the tried and true crime formula, a traumatised detective returns to his home town to care for his ailing father and is caught up in the disappearance of a young boy.
However, the formula becomes quite stereotypical, never moving past the detective's pessimistic world view. Orr appears to have a low opinion of life in a small Australian country town and his negativity becomes tiresome.
I found a lot of the dialogue unbelievable and the plot too far stretched.
Detective Bart Moy seems to follow few police procedures and the final scenes where his ailing father (recovering from a stroke!) accompanies him on an escapade was totally unbelievable.
I wasn't even clear on the details of the narrative by the end of the story.
I'm surprised at text publishing letting this one through the gate.
It follows the tried and true crime formula, a traumatised detective returns to his home town to care for his ailing father and is caught up in the disappearance of a young boy.
However, the formula becomes quite stereotypical, never moving past the detective's pessimistic world view. Orr appears to have a low opinion of life in a small Australian country town and his negativity becomes tiresome.
I found a lot of the dialogue unbelievable and the plot too far stretched.
Detective Bart Moy seems to follow few police procedures and the final scenes where his ailing father (recovering from a stroke!) accompanies him on an escapade was totally unbelievable.
I wasn't even clear on the details of the narrative by the end of the story.
I'm surprised at text publishing letting this one through the gate.
April 13, 2014
I've enjoyed every Stephen Orr novel that I read, but this one was a little less satisfying. One of the things I enjoy is the sheer "South Australianism" in his characters and settings. Usually they are much more identifiable than this one, which I found way too generic at times, especially when he used the term "wheat belt" it seemed more West, than South Australian. I found the story of the missing, then unidentified, boy to be fairly uninspiring and predictable. Also, there were far too many loose threads in the way in which it was resolved. In fact, the climax was downright disappointing! Nevertheless, I enjoy Orr's style and choice of subject. I guess not every one of his stories will rise to the level of "Times Long Ruin", "Dissonance" and "Hill of Grace" which are his novels I've read to date.
February 3, 2017
I liked this one - I can't say I loved it, but I liked it. It had a real small town Aussie feel, complete with the dust and heat and community spirit.
The butcher is on smoko one day and sees someone shoving a child into the boot of a car and speeding off. Did he just witness a kidnapping? How can it be, when no child is reported missing? There are more questions than answers and Detective Sergeant Bart Moy is assigned the puzzling case.
I found the story a little slow in parts, and a little unbelievable in others. For example, would a police officer really be able to take in a boy, found stealing an apple from the store? He is not a foster carer, and I'm sure this would not really be able to happen, but I do understand why the author made it this way.
The butcher is on smoko one day and sees someone shoving a child into the boot of a car and speeding off. Did he just witness a kidnapping? How can it be, when no child is reported missing? There are more questions than answers and Detective Sergeant Bart Moy is assigned the puzzling case.
I found the story a little slow in parts, and a little unbelievable in others. For example, would a police officer really be able to take in a boy, found stealing an apple from the store? He is not a foster carer, and I'm sure this would not really be able to happen, but I do understand why the author made it this way.
April 16, 2014
Would rate this at 3 1/2 stars if I could. This is not your stereotypical crime novel and explores the nature of relationships and family as much as the crimes committed. Some other reviewers have commented negatively on the language used in the book. Yes, there are a few swear words in the book but they are completely authentic to the dialogue and are not gratuitous at all.
Some parts of the plot may stretch belief just a little - for example an elderly man participating in a police search, but I think that this illustrates the relationship that has formed between two men and the missing boy.
Some parts of the plot may stretch belief just a little - for example an elderly man participating in a police search, but I think that this illustrates the relationship that has formed between two men and the missing boy.
January 20, 2014
A read from a fairly new Australian author. The key character is a just about past his use by date country cop called Detective Brett Moy, who goes way beyond the call of duty to take in a very disturbed boy. Moy has problems of his own, recovering from a failed marriage and the loss of his own, dealing with his own Dad in poor health, and now a young boy who is lost in every way. However he takes on the challenge and also tries to find out where the boy has come from, and what happened to his family.
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