When We Go Missing

Gr 9 Up–Henry’s latest features the alternating perspectives of teens Willow and Dare, volunteers at a Portland animal shelter, and Ryan, a real estate agent who preys on teenage girls and young women. Willow, who has a tough time at home with an ill mother and distant stepfather, finds a camera memory card containing many photos of girls—some don’t appear to know they’re being photographed, while others seem frightened—and learns one of them is missing. The novel’s pacing picks up halfway through, once Willow begins investigating; the first half is primarily centered around the day-to-day of the shelter, which is in danger of closing. Dare, meanwhile, is dealing with guilt over an accident that led to his being on probation—volunteering is a condition of his plea deal. Ryan’s chapters offer a truly predatory view as his behavior escalates rapidly from illicit photography to luring with ruses with intent to assault and more. Both Willow and Dare are wealthy, in contrast to the unhoused population near the animal shelter. The teens are generally written as compassionate, but some descriptions are lacking, as when Dare refers to city bus passengers as “freaks and weirdos.” Willow and Ryan are white; Dare has light brown skin and Italian and Japanese heritage. Sexual assault and murder of teenagers occur but are not described in graphic detail.