Philip Preston went missing in Thailand when he was eight
years old. Now, 40 years later, his
sister Laura receives a convincing email that indicates Philip is alive and
still in Thailand. Against the advice of
her boyfriend and her sister Bea, Laura jumps on a plane to Bangkok so that she
can confirm Philip’s identity and retrieve him.
What’s so nifty about this semi-obscure novel is that it keeps the reader
in suspense for a long time about what really happened to Philip. I have to say that I was torn between wanting
to hear Philip’s story and not wanting this book to end. His story is just as grim as we may have
imagined, but who is ultimately responsible for his disappearance is as
disturbing as it is shocking. In fact,
we find out near the end that an unfortunate confluence of events led to
Philip’s misfortune. In many ways this
book is a de rigueur family saga with the usual jaw-dropping secrets about cowardice
and betrayal. However, the author whips
these elements into a delicious novel against an exotic backdrop. During the family’s time as expats living in
Thailand as the Vietnam War was winding down, Philip’s mother was not even
aware that her husband was doing intelligence work for the U.S. This is one of those books in which almost
everything that happens is critical to the plot. One incident in which Philip gets into a
fight at his judo class left me a little puzzled as to what its significance
was, but the author ties everything else up pretty neatly at the end. I did have to reread one early scene at
Philip’s father’s office, and I am still not entirely sure that I understand
what happened there. Sometimes we just
have to draw our own conclusions and be OK with that.
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