The Boundaries We Cross

Parks (Say Nothing) fashions a propulsive page-turner out of familiar parts in this topical academic thriller. For the last 11 years, Charles Bliss has taught creative writing at an elite Connecticut boarding school. He’s shocked when the headmaster calls him into the administrative office one morning and tells him that pretty, blonde student Hayley Goodloe—whose mother is a longtime member of the Connecticut State Legislature and the school’s board of trustees—has accused him of carrying on a romantic relationship with her. Charles vehemently denies the accusations, and then Hayley disappears; the evidence that eventually emerges points strongly toward Charles’s involvement in her abduction. Pilloried on the internet, shunned by most of his colleagues, and named a person of interest by the police, Charles scrambles to clear his name. Parks excels at shaping his characters’ voices, with chapters alternating between a desperate Charles and increasingly anxious excerpts from Hayley’s journal. Crackling dialogue, vigorous pacing, and a surprisingly fresh angle on well-trod subject matter bolster things further. Readers won’t be able to put this down. Agent: Alice Martell, Martell Agency. (Nov.)