Missing People

by Brandon S. Graham

Missing People is an intense domestic drama, filled with acutely observed, damaged characters, and is framed as a resonant thriller.

At the age of seventeen, Etta Messenger stepped from a school bus in a seemingly safe Chicago suburb and never reached her front door. Six years later Etta's mother, Meg, has organized a memorial service to mark the painful anniversary. Newton, Etta's high school sweetheart, a disabled Afghanistan veteran with anger issues, uses the impending anniversary as an excuse to spin out of control. Charlie, Etta's earnest blue-collar father, takes stock of his life and is reminded how he failed to protect his daughter. Her younger brother, Townes, who is convinced he drove his sister away, has his fragile hermetic cocoon threatened by the heightened emotions of the day. On the day of the memorial, a snowstorm threatens the city and a chance observation on a commuter train entangles Townes in a dangerous situation that recalls the events surrounding Etta's disappearance.

Missing People explores the contemporary American family. It is rich with insights into what makes men and women tick, issues of identity and memory, longing and loss and the role of the individual as part of a family. It will force you to take a serious look at the stories we tell ourselves, and others, about who we are and what we need to be whole.

Genres: Fiction

416 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2017

About the author

A transient Southerner by birth and heritage, Brandon Graham has lived, worked, and studied in eight different states and four different countries. He eventually settled near Chicago where he studied visual and written narrative at Columbia College Center for Book and Paper Arts.

If one belief has latched itself securely to his core during his travels, it is that narrative is the most powerful bridge across social, intellectual, emotional and geographic distances.

Brandon’s first short story was published in the journal Pleiades in 1990. Since then he has written for performance, artist’s books, book reviews, web content, mail art and many many zines. He has continued to publish poems and prose in literary journals, including the recent story Razed published in the experimental journal Little Bang. His books are included in several dozen special collections libraries throughout the United States including Yale, UCLA, Otis College of Art and Design, Emory University, and Ringling School of Design. In the past few years his book How To Gut A Fish was reviewed in The Blue Notebook, an art journal produced in London, England; and two of his visual books received awards at the International Book Arts Exhibition in Seoul South Korea.

Good For Nothing is his Debut novel.

Brandon continues to make art and write in Illinois where he lives with his lovely wife and two mostly sweet children, surrounded by a remarkable gang of friends and neighbors.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Six years ago, Etta Messenger disappeared without a trace. Now her mother sets up a memorial in hopes that she and her family can get passed this. She invites her now ex-husband, her surviving son, Etta’s high school boyfriend and the detective who worked the case. With a snow storm coming, more problems arise.

This is a story that shows that each individual not only continuing to morn Etta but how her disappearance has changed each not for the better. This is in an intense read because we feel for each of the characters and the pain they have to deal with on a regular basis. The struggles to continue not knowing and not have closure. It is moving, captivating and emotional. I haven’t read a book like this in some time. Most read his first novel now.

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received Missing People through a Good Reads Giveaway. While the title suggests a conventional mystery, the book is more of a psychological novel. Etta disappears at the age of 17 and six years later, her mother plans a memorial for her. Each of the people closest to Etta, including her mother and father, now divorced, her brother and her boyfriend, is forced to confront feelings of grief, guilt and anger. The only real mystery here is whether Etta's brother will survive danger as he attempts to prevent the abduction of a young girl who reminds him of his sister. I confess that I was expecting a mystery novel and, although the writing is excellent, I found the story quite depressing.

[Melissa Rothman · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this book in a giveaway and unfortunately I just didn't care at all for this book the cover is as boring and dry as the book in general I got about to chapter 5 and I just couldn't go any further.

[Amy Rogers · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was hard for me to get into the book at first. The only thing that kept me going was the shifting back and forth from one character to another for their point of view. I had trouble liking any of the characters-- they were all annoying or frustrating in their own way, with how they were dealing with their own emotions. But the more I read, I began to realize that the different ways each character was dealing with loss, made them human. As annoying and frustrating as they are, you realize that those are real coping mechanisms that each one of us can, and do fall into during our own lives. They became "real" people that you begin to understand and relate with. The story itself developed slowly at first, then began to pick up. I was expecting more of a mystery, but overall it was a good story.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

The backdrop of living through the daily slog of grey-slush Chicago winters was a perfect setting for this tale of loss, love and redemption. There is often a bleak isolation, a self-imposed fortress of the spirt that comes upon residents living through the winters, and Brandon made good use of that tone in showcasing each character's PTSD issues following the loss of a family member. I found the pace and storytelling to be compelling and memorable, and long to see any sort of a sequel.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was a mystery-so I was about 150 pages into it when I realized there was not going to be a mystery. This is a slice of life book about "missing" a person and how it impacted the various characters. It was well written, but I found it very slow moving.

[Augie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book first establishes the main characters and then nicely brings them all together in this well written mystery story.

This is the second book I have read by this author and look forwarding to reading many more as they become available.

[cati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took a lot of pages to get going. But, there was some good writing a interesting characters to enjoy.

[Jack Goodstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Multiple points of view of a family's response to a missing daughter seven years after the event, Perhaps a bit too much emphasis on coincidence.

[Ann Ayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written, exciting ending.

[Darla]

YUK

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

A psychological thriller with a satisfying end.

[Kim]

I am excited and honoured to be a goodreads winner.