"The Missing Place"--from author Sophie Littlefield--Set against the backdrop of North Dakota’s oil boom, two very different mothers form an uneasy alliance to find their missing sons in this heartrending and suspenseful novel from the Edgar Award–nominated author of Garden of Stones.

The Missing Place

Twenty-year-old Taylor Capparelli and Paul Mitchell go missing in Lawton, North Dakota, where they have been working on rigs owned by Hunter-Cole Energy. The boys stayed in Black Creek Lodge, a "man camp" providing room and board. The mothers of the two boys come to Lawton to find out what happened to their sons and form an uneasy alliance. Shay Capparelli, a 41-year-old single grandmother, has more grit than resources; for wealthy suburban housewife Colleen Mitchell, the opposite is true. Overtaxed by worry, exhaustion, and fear, they question each others' methods and motivations - but there is no one else to help, and they must learn to work together if they are to have any chance of breaking through the barriers put up by their sons employer, the indifference of an overtaxed police department, and a town of strangers with their own secrets against a backdrop of a modern day gold rush.

MY REVIEW:  Two young men with polar opposite backgrounds both choose the oil-boom promise of rural North Dakota as the path for their futures. Despite their differences, Paul and Taylor become friends. When they both disappear during their first year on the job, their mothers are the ones who continue to search and seek, not settling for the vague answers from law enforcement and the oil company itself. Two women will travel to "The Missing Place" in Sophie Littlefield's atmospheric character study. Shay Capparelli is used to the raw, rough edges of life, and she raised her son Taylor to be like her--a survivor. Leaving California behind with little resources and a lot of determination, she heads for North Dakota to find her son. Colleen Mitchell follows her own mother's instincts and travels from her privileged life in Massachusetts to the comparative wilderness of Lawton, North Dakota to locate her son, Paul. With housing and lodging in the area already inadequate due to the influx of workers, Colleen must share a generator-run motor home with Shay. The women have a mutual concern for their sons, but their personalities and life experiences are sharply contrasted--as sharp as the underlying fear that drives each of them to find the truth--to find their boys. The rugged landscape, the unrelenting cold, and the daily reality of life as an oil rigger, all add to the moody bleakness of the story line. As the two mothers form a difficult but inescapable alliance, they learn as much about themselves as they learn about each other. They are not friends, yet they must depend upon each other in ways they never expected. Will they ever learn the real truth about their sons, and will they be able to bring their boys home again? Nothing is as fierce as a mother's love of her child, and these two women will not stop in their quest to be reunited with their sons.

Book Copy Gratis Amazon Vine

Reviews

"With two strong. complicated women at its center, Sophie Littlefield’s The Missing Place seizes you with its emotional fervor from its first pages and never lets you go. With intelligence and keen sensitivity, Littlefield draws us into a story, and a world—the North Dakota oil fields— that feels both utterly original and yet also so deeply our own. A remarkable novel." Author: Megan Abbott Source: bestselling author of THE FEVER and DARE ME

“A powerful portrait of grief, fear, and courage as two mothers fight for truth.” Author: C.J. Lyons Source: New York Times bestselling author of FAREWELL TO DREAMS

“Taut and suspenseful, fierce and compelling—The Missing Place traces two mothers’ descents into the hell of searching for their lost children, and doesn’t let up until the last page is, breathtakingly, turned." Author: Jennie Shortridge, author of LOVE WATER MEMORY

"A remarkable story of the unlikely friendship between two women desperately searching for their missing sons, told as only Sophie Littlefield can, with depth, humor, and honesty. Colleen and Shay are women I know; they are whom I see reflected in the mirror. And as they push forward, confronting the demons of their pasts and the horror of their present, I couldn’t help wanting to hold them back just as I urged them onward. THE MISSING PLACE is a compelling and perceptive examination of just how far a mother will go to save her child." Author: Carla Buckley, author of THE DEEPEST SECRET and THE THINGS THAT KEEP US HERE

“A novel steeped in secrets and unspoken truths.” Author: --Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train

"I read this in one sitting, unable to leave the fray with the boys' lives at stake." Author: Mark P. Sadler Source: Suspense Magazine



Sophie Littlefield

 

Called a “writing machine” by the New York Times and a “master storyteller” by the Midwest Book Review, Sophie Littlefield has written dozens of novels for adults and teens. She has won Anthony and RT Book Awards and been shortlisted for Edgar, Barry, Crimespree, Macavity, and Goodreads Choice Awards.

Sophie also writes under the pen name Sofia Grant. 

http://www.sophielittlefield.com