Cemetery Girl / by David Bell

"Let me tell you something about my daughter."

The day Tom Stuart's daughter disappeared is what he replays most in his mind. 12-year-old Caitlin had taken the dog for a walk, something Tom and wife Abby had agreed was a good responsibility/privilege, and hadn't come back. What unfolded in the following days, weeks, months and eventually years was a classic suburban disaster story. Frantic searches amped up by media coverage and community panic gave way to fruitless leads followed by inconsequential suspects and an ultimate withdrawal of investigators from the case. The grieving couple's marriage then began to dissolve, Abby thinking it time to move on and Tom not ready to give up hope. After four years, Abby does move on, organizing a memorial service to declare Caitlin legally dead, even giving her a burial plot; Tom doesn't even attend for much of the ceremony and Abby starts to move out of the house later that day. But then, only a little while later and nearly at random, Caitlin's found--alive. Discovered by police after some new information surfaces, a teenage Caitlin reappears, disheveled and malnourished, but breathing and at least physically alright.

The miracle isn't quite as luminous as Tom envisioned. His daughter is home and safe and, at least for the time being, the family is back together, but the situation is far from stable. Caitlin isn't talking. It's not as if she's incoherent or uncommunicative, she's just not saying what happened, even requesting a stay of questions concerning all that's gone on. And though Tom still can hardly fathom that his daughter might've actually have been a runaway rather than a kidnapping victim, the thought lingers, becoming, while not quite the whole truth, a notion intermingled with what actually went down. To say the least, his daughter's disappearance, time away and awkward reappearance has done Tom's own well-being no favors. His psyche's shot, his mind plays tricks on him (Or does it?). He may be seeing things that aren't really there and the reckless way he's gone about trying to find answers--both before and after Caitlin's return--has only served to alienate his wife, discredit his convictions and complicate his relationships with the law enforcement officials who are still searching for "the guy", the man his daughter won't tell him about and the one person ("a bastard to be sure") who holds the key to everything.

Perhaps if it weren't for the cover which lends this book a less original flavor, giving it more of a YA feel, Cemetery Girl could've taken off at a level similar to Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, In the Woods by Tana French or even an earlier Stephen King. And even though the novel and its author have gotten their due credit from the people who truly matter, the book is a still something of an underground phenomenon, not quite mainstream. The praise is certainly warranted. It's not just the story--a taut blend of well-conceived realism and subtly imbedded cliffhangers--that pushes things forward, climax to climax, revelation by revelation, but the densely layered psychological adventure steadily creeping toward a crescendo. Tom Stuart lost something he will never get back, even when he does technically get back the thing that he lost. Nothing seems to satisfy the deepest ache of his soul, a soul still tormented by an under-nurtured past and unsettled family history. Even finding a solid lead, his child, then the perpetrator, and ultimately justice can't quiet his desire for the truth of why his daughter may have preferred another life. This can portray him as not an all-the-way likeable character; easy to identify with, but not totally sympathetic. As the ultimate pitiable victim, a parent who's lost a child, he doesn't earn a lot of brownie points for the way he brazenly points the finger (about more than one thing), first at the police, then his wife, his half-brother, the kidnapper . . . going the whole round before finally getting to himself. Nor is he shy about acting on impulse and taking the law into his own hands. But can you blame him? Bell thinks that maybe you can, to a degree. It's a hard sell, to be sure, this re-fabrication of natural reactions of a parent to their own child's kidnapping. But it's the key to the story's true success, almost a de-victimization of the injured party whereby a heinous, truly abominable injustice wrought on an undeserving family, heaped on top of which is the maddening reluctance of those in charge and the dissolution of a marriage, is twisted around in thoroughly believable fashion, creating a story about the tenuous balance between paternal love and obsessive control all tied up within a damaged, driven man. (FIC BELL)

The Neighbor / by Lisa Gardner

The last thing Detective Sergeant D.D. Warren needs is a media frenzy surrounding her current investigation. Jason Jones is husband to Sandra Jones, a woman who disappeared in the middle of the night, leaving her purse, car keys and 4-year-old daughter behind without a trace. Jason's also the kind of hunky face that TV cameras love. Ditto for his young, blond wife who's not only stunningly photogenic, but has the kind of shady reputation--possible infidelity--which D.D. can't seem to get a firm angle on and which will inevitably beget numerous conspiracies if information is leaked and things linger. Regardless of the evidence (or lack thereof), the case has all the makings of another Nancy Grace-led TV news cacophony. Throw in a paranoid, possibly culpable sex offender living right around the corner and a plethora of other questionable neighbors in this regentrified south Boston neighborhood and D.D. has to be extra sharp and ultra fast to get to the bottom of this caper. Initially, at least, there's no direct information that would indicate a homicide, that is until D.D. discovers the 4.5 million dollars sitting untouched in the couple's bank account, evidently an inheritance left them some time ago. Why would a young couple work two full-time jobs--he a reporter, she a middle school teacher--and live a comparatively modest lifestyle while leaving a hefty nest egg just sitting idle? And why is Jason so worried about this sex offender guy who, despite his obvious history, seems to have nothing to do with anything? It's not the only thing that doesn't add up, nor is it the last little surprise to sneak up on D.D. in her quest to find out what happened as the story unfolds.

Suspense author Lisa Gardner hits it big in this highly entertaining bestseller which does well to balance an enthralling story with the charming nuances of a sympathetic protagonist. There's kind of a lot going on so it might seem like a hefty amount for the reader to process, but Gardner lays it out nicely, narrating the plot through four feature characters and giving her heroine the proper scope and incentive to face the challenge. D.D.'s not going to apologize for her faults, and she's not without them--falling for Jason's good looks, snap judgments on certain "neighbor" suspects, flawed interrogation tactics--but she's equally ready to confront any conflict and backtrack through her mistakes to remedy any errors. The author definitely knows her high profile news cases, referencing several of the more recent, over-sensationalized kidnapping/murder stories (Scott Peterson, Elizabeth Smart, Natalee Holloway, etc.) which have gotten a lot of run in the last few years. (MYS GARDNER)

A Deadly Secret: The Strange Disappearance of Kathie Durst / by Matt Birkbeck

Robert Durst was (and remains) a very strange man. Sometimes when you're incredibly rich, the case with Durst whose family's mega-real estate franchise owns entire sections of Manhattan, you can get away with it.  From the time he was born in 1943 until 1982, when his wife Kathie went missing never to be seen again, this was very much the case with the son and heir to the Durst legacy. Robert's personal and psychological misgivings were kept under wraps or acknowledged only in passing as "eccentricities". The fact that he witnessed his mother's grisly suicide at the tender age of seven--she leapt to her death from the roof of the garage--was widely known and contributed to widespread speculation on his ongoing behavioral irregularities. Murmurs of problems in the marriage were prevalent. The couple's separate lives, an prior abortion, mood swings, domestic abuse (both emotional and physical), Robert's demotion within the family business, Kathie's filing for divorce and Robert's reluctance to settle matters financially all caused a stir within the couple's social circle. Suspicions immediately pointed to Durst in 1982 when Kathie went missing after a seemingly routine weekend at the couple's Westchester (NY) lake house, this in spite of the fact that no one seemed more surprised or aggrieved than Robert by the event. But despite multiple sightings by various individuals in the days immediately following Kathie's disappearance and conscientious efforts ongoing throughout the preceding months and years, she was never seen again.

For the following few decades, nothing much happened of any relevance. Kathie remained missing and no new clues surfaced. But a new District Attorney in Westchester County suddenly reopened the case in 2000 prompting a reinvigorated attempt to pursue the cause and reasons involving Kathie's disappearance. The legal proceedings coerced Robert Durst to go into hiding in Galveston where, to disguise himself, he dressed as a woman and pretended to be mute. Living alone in a small rented home he shared with a tenant named Morris Black, Durst began to feel particularly edgy around the time of the murder of Susan Berman, a longtime friend and confidante who may or may not have been involved in Kathie's disappearance. In a whirlwind series of events, Durst consequently killed Black, acting in self-defense he would later testify, dismembered the body and dumped the remains in Galveston Bay where they were discovered only months after Berman's murder. With still no evidence to tie him to his missing wife, Durst was ultimately apprehended, tried for the murder of his neighbor and acquitted, having to serve 9 months in jail for covering up Black's death after which he served out his probation and resumed a residence in Houston. Kathie has never been found.

Author and investigative journalist Birkbeck published this book in 2002 prior to Durst's subsequent bond-jumping in 2006 when he and his prosecutor actually ran into each other at the Galleria. Still, the foundation for the very, very strange life of Robert Durst is well laid out. What would seem like another salacious "48 Hours" episode--Kathie McCormack was very beautiful, Durst was very rich, the family name was a high profile one, etc.--is actually a much deeper and more provocative story altogether. The relationship between the two very opposited people is carefully examined, scrutinizing their habits, personalities, rampant drug use and stubborn disagreements. For all his quirks and secretiveness, Robert Durst may be no more than a guy who just didn't 'fit' with the life his father and those around him wanted him to have. That and his borderline schizophrenia consequently generated some unfortunate life circumstances. As it's presented, he and Kathie's marriage was actually a happy one, prosperous and joyful in parts even near the end. Withstanding the circumstances surrounding the disappearance, the situation just doesn't seem like one in which Robert would have committed to killing his wife (too obvious). The 2010 movie All Good Things starring Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst as Durst and Kathie, while admittedly flawed, does a respectable job of following the case through to the present. And, in what has to be one of the most spectacularly creepy special features on any DVD ever, Robert Durst himself is actually present (and vocal) with the director during the DVD's audio commentary! Figure that one out. (364.1523 BIRKBECK)

Night Moves (DVD) 1975 / a film by Arthur Penn; starring Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, James Woods, Susan Clark & Melanie Griffith

"Nobody's winning. One side's just losing slower than the other."

Harry Moseby is getting tired of his job. He's tired of a lot of things, the problems in his marriage not least among them, but mostly it's the mundane, depressing work is private investigator practice is giving him. It's always the same bitter divorce cases and teenage runaways, the same sleazy LA types, movie people and hangers-on, who want someone to catch their cheating spouse in the act or find out who's dealing drugs to their kids. So when a wealthy Hollywood woman hires him to find her missing daughter Delly, he ponders that it just might be his last case. It's the usual set of sordid circumstances, or so it seems, in which the girl's left home after a falling out over a man Delly was seeing. The case leads Harry to Florida where the presumed runaway is holed up with her stepfather and another woman, Paula. She's certainly not interested in returning home to her mother but Harry thinks he can persuade her, something he gets done with a little help from Paula and a little coercion of Tom. Before they head out though, there's an odd incident involving a downed biplane offshore which catches Harry's attention. Little is thought of it and Harry succeeds in getting Delly back home safe.

Of course all is not safe, or even remotely back to normal. Still in the process of getting things settled in his own personal life, Harry get's the news that Delly has died on the set of a movie where she'd been working as a stunt double. Though it's been made to look like an accident, Harry starts to think that it's anything but and before long certain pieces of an entirely new puzzle involving the downed biplane, Delly's mother and what was really going on in Florida slowly come together. Oddly, Night Moves has never been considered an elite 70's crime/detective film, at least not in the same vein as Chinatown, The Conversation or The French Connection. Even more odd is that the latter two films both had Hackman as the lead each of the preceding years. In a role in which he's reunited with director Author Penn (Bonnie and Clyde, Alice's Restaurant), Hackman plays the same sort of grizzled tough guy he was in French Connection though this time around with perhaps a little less edgy aggression. In any case it's a true gem, definitely worth the time and effort to locate and view (it's not a very readily available film). And it's one of the few films that truly demands the unwavering attention of the viewer as the mystery and the mayhem unravel and newer twists are introduced at every turn.  (DVD NIGHT)

L'Avventura [The Adventure] (DVD) 1960 / a film by Michelangelo Antonioni starring Gabriele Ferzetti, Monica Vitti and Lea Massari

"Tell me you love me."

A weekend boating trip comprised of several bored, wealthy, overpriveleged Italian friends leads to a desert island where most of the party playfully swims ashore, all content to frolick in the sunshine. All seem happy except for young Anna who's seen heatedly quarreling with her fiance Sandro. Pleading with Sandro to leave her alone, Anna departs the scene presumably seeking solitude on the island. Hours later Anna is nowhere to be found. No logical explanation can explain where or how Anna might have gone missing (hiding?). The island is little more than a barren rock perhaps half a mile in diameter and only a few boats have been noticed in the vicinity. Everyone scowers the premises the remainder of the day only to come up empty.By evening the search is abandoned by all accept Sandro and Claudia, Anna's closest friend, who each continue their efforts on the mainland. The ongoing search for Anna quickly dissolves into an affair between the playboy Sandro and vapid Claudia, the well-being and general existence of their mutual friend more or less forgotten about as they hedonistically indulge their passions while navigating the towns and villages, haphazardly seeking news as to the whereabouts of their once-companion.

Needless to say, Anna is never found, nor is she ever heard of again. But it doesn't matter. All that really matters in the minds and hearts of the film's characters is the next break from the ennui; instant gratification in the form of sensuality and lasciviousness offering a minor reprieve from idleness and dissipation. Anna, Sandro, Claudia and their flighty friends are afforded the luxury of avoiding a lifestyle of work and responsibilities, objectives and purposes, liabilities and commitments. In this world, which Antonioni brilliantly caricatures, it is impossible to be happy simply because of the need to be ceaselessly entertained. Each person is in fact addicted to diversion, seeking adventure--"l'avventura"--despite the fact that "adventure" is merely an abstraction of the mind, an imagined thrill which will invariably manifest itself as a desert island. (DVD AVVENTUR)