Boy Still Missing

by John Searles

Book Overview

Boy Still MissingIt is June 1971 and Dominick Pindle, a tenderhearted but aimless Massachusetts teenager, spends his nights driving around with his mother and dragging his wayward father out of bars.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 006000780X
• ISBN13: 9780060007805
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: Wmmorrowpb
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Superbly Written Thriller

What a great story told by a very gifted writer! This is my third John Searles book so I will have to wait until March 2022 when his new book comes out to read another. The story is about good and bad choices we all make in life whether we are young or old and how those choices affect the people around us. If you've been hungry for a superbly written thriller that you will never forget, this is a must read!

Don't Miss This Book

John Searles in his debut book, Boy Still Missing, tells the coming of age tale of a young man which will haunt readers long after they close this book. From a line which ended the prologue, "I wish I could have stopped the most important person in my life from dying, " to the closing line, "And a part of me who will always be a boy still missing the childhood he left too quickly behind," readers will be glued to the story of Dominck Pindle. Dominick Pindle may appear to be a normal and average 15 year old but his life is anything but normal. Many is the night that he accompanies his mother and her friend while they go looking for Dominick's father in local bars. But then one night trailing his father to a woman's home will set Dominick, his mother, father and this woman on a course which can only lead to tragedy. With a rather eccentric and unhappy mother who is hiding secrets to his philandering father and missing money, we sit on the edge of pour seats as Dominick's world is about to fall apart. And we as readers have a front row seat to how Dominck deals with the cards life handed him and a young woman who may very well save him. Not in a very long time have I found a young male character as engaging and as sorrowful as Dominick Pindle. I am sure that some readers will compare him to other male teenage protagonists, perhaps even Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye. But to me Dominck is a most unique young man whom we get to know and root for as we get closer to the end of this book. I found this to be a well written book with wonderfully portrayed characters and a captivating theme. I do look forward to reading more books by this author in the future.

"Don't Let It Happen To You"

If you haven't read this book yet, you don't know what you're missing. Don't let it happen to you. If you're an avid book reader, like myself, you know you'll find maybe one book out of ten that really is special, and this book has got to be one of my favorite so far this year. It's beautifully written and a pleasure to read. John Searles is a real wordsmith. I was familiar with Searles writing from other publications, like Out, and other magazines, so I was very excited when he new debut novel was published. I wasn't disappointed. Here is a story that will keep you up at night till you're on the last page. The story takes place in 1971. It tells the story of Dominick Pindle, a fifteen-year- old boy, who lives in Holedo, Massachusetts with his parents, who seem like a normal couple but really hold a lot of personal secrets. Dominick's father tends to drink a lot. Often Dominick and his mother must find him and drag him out of bars. His father has a mistress named Edie, who Dominick meets one night while searching for his father, and Dominick himself begins an affair with her. Dominick ends of loaning her lots of money that belongs to his mother, causing even more problems. Dominick finds out his mother was saving the money for an abortion of her own. She was having an affair, too, with Town Sheriff Roget. Dominick's mother not being able to afford a safe illegal abortion ends of bleeding to death in a motel room trying to terminate the pregnancy herself, with someone else's help. Who helps her, then deserts her is a real surprise. It turns out that Edie, the father's mistress, is pregnant, too, and the baby belongs to Dominick's father. There are so many plot twists in this story it's more than enough to fill two books. As the plot moves along very rapidly with more and more twists, we find Dominick with his new girlfriend, Jeanny, holed up in the same motel room his mother died in, with Edie's baby, who is Dominick's sister. There they are surrounded by the police, in a stand-off, that continues with more plot twists till the book comes to it's powerful conclusion. What a story!Once in a while you find a new author that's really exciting and a powerful writer. John Searles is just that and more. I've got a strong feeling this will become a movie someday soon. I certainly look forward to reading and reviewing John's next book. Bravo!

One of the greatest books I have read in a long time!

I began reading "Boy Still Missing" on a Friday morning. By around 1 am early Saturday morning, I was hooked on the story line, and cared greatly for all of the characters. John Searles guides the reader through a whirlwind of excitement and suspense. The novel contains many surprises that even the greatest foreshadowing reader wouldn't have seen coming. While reading the book, I was quickly reminded of Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye". Is "Boy Still Missing" just as good? Nope, it's ALOT better! Do yourself a favor and pick up this great novel by a promissing new author, whose wit and storytelling abilities are rarely seen by most of today's authors.

Excellent Read!

This book was fantastic. I wasn't able to put it down until I finished it. I immediately cared about the characters and couldn't wait to find out what happened to them. The wording was highly descriptive without being verbose and the storyline was absolutely captivating. The unanticipated twists and turns kept me reading and reading. John Searles has done a great job with his first published novel! I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a great story.

a MUST READ!

Boy Still Missing is a very extroadinary book. John Searles's imagry and how he made you feel you were Dominick Pindel was just amazing. I could honestly say I didn't put the book down until I was done reading. I actually felt I was there watching everything right in front of me. I can't wait until John Searles writes another book because Boy Still Missing, his first fiction novel, was just absolutely astounding. If you loved Catcher in the Rye, you definitely love this book.