He's Gone

The latest from National Book Award finalist Caletti (for Honey, Baby, Sweetheart) is an all-in-one-sitting affair. Dani Keller, saddled with an abusive husband and bland suburban neighborhood, leaves her ugly marriage and pretty house. Her exit route is an affair with sympathetic neighbor Ian, which leads to a new life on a houseboat on Seattle's Lake Union. Now married to Ian, the promise of her new life is locked in: a new neighborhood with color and vibrancy, a software company for her hus-band to run, and a sailboat named The New View. One fine morning, Dani wakes up and Ian is gone. From here, Caletti constructs a whodunit with all its attendant police interviews and clue-chasing. Has someone hurt or killed Ian? Did he do this himself? Was it a frantic flight to a new country or a new identity? The author expertly shifts focus from the nitty-gritty of how to find the guy towards a greater investment in probing the psychology of human relationships. Caletti solves the mystery in the end, but more riveting and of greater depth is her second conclusion, that you bring your same self wherev-er you go. (May)