The Missing by Shiloh Walker

Taige Branch is a teenager with psychic abilities that allow her to find missing people, especially children. Because of her gift she has always felt like a freak and kept herself separate from most people. Losing her parents when she was 8 and being sent to live with an uncle who hates her abilities has only deepened her isolation. She is finally able to make a connection when Cullen Morgan saves her from an attack by some drunk local boys who are trying to rape her. Over the next several years Taige and Cullen's connection deepens and she begins to see a future for them.

All of that changes when Cullen's mother is murdered and Taige doesn't get a vision of the crime until it is too late to save her. Cullen blames Taige for his mother's death because she hides from her gift. He believes that if she were more open and less reactive she would have gotten the vision in time to save his mom. When Taige attempts to comfort him the two have a relationship ending fight. Twelve years pass and Taige is now working with the FBI and Cullen is a widowed father and author. He has followed Taige's career from a distance, but has no intention of ever contacting her again until his daughter Jillian is kidnapped. In desperation he goes to Taige for help and the two are forced to work together to save Jillian and stop a serial killer while dealing with the feelings they still have for each other.


The story is interesting and the writing created atmosphere very effectively, but it didn't break any new ground. If you've read other stories about psychics who solve crimes the major elements will be familiar. The way that Taige's gift works, the fact that Cullen is the right guy for her because she can't "read" him, the significance of Taige's dreams and the villain are all standard. That makes it sound like this book is rather pointless, but it isn't. I would have liked for it to be at least somewhat less formulaic, but the quality of the writing is good enough for it to be worth reading.

The one thing that I didn't like at all was the way that Jillian's mother was handled. She is essentially erased in a way that I thought was sort of cheap. I don't have children, but I think that if I was a mother this would have bothered me even more.

Grade: B-