cover image The Special Power of Restoring Lost Things

The Special Power of Restoring Lost Things

Courtney Elizabeth Mauk. Little A, $24.95 (202p) ISBN 978-1-5039-3705-5

Mauk (Orion's Daughters) again probes the secrets and lies of family relationships in her somewhat disappointing latest. It's been a year since 21-year-old Jennifer Bauer's disappearance from her Lower East Side home and probable abduction by a stranger. When a body matching Jennifer's description is found, the surviving members of her small family are all on the verge of their own crises. Her dad is desperate to obliterate the emotional distance that he fears drove Jennifer away. Her younger brother, Ben, spurred by Jennifer's disappearance and the recent devastation of Hurricane Sandy, prepares for disaster. And her mom is paralyzed by sadness%E2%80%94except when she puts on Jennifer's clothes and goes clubbing in an attempt to feel closer to her daughter in her final hours. All three of them swirl around Jennifer's enigmatic and possibly destructive friend Sandra, who remains a cipher. With its shifting perspectives, Mauk's narrative offers moments of both tension and insight. Its exploration of differing responses to grief is familiar, and its attempts to contrast the Bauers' Upper West Side with the dark and dangerous Lower East Side that swallowed up Jennifer are dated and artificial. (Oct.)