MISSING

By the end of the first chapter of Sala's overwrought romance, Wes Holden, a former POW in Afghanistan who suffers from PTSD, has seen a Muslim terrorist kill his wife and son. Meanwhile, in rural West Virginia, Ally Monroe cares for a selfish father and two fully grown brothers. Her father urges her to marry a local widower, but Ally, who gave up on love long ago (what with being born with a game leg), dreams of a man walking out of the woods to save her from her drudgery—which is exactly what happens. The grief-stricken Wes, having regained his senses and realized that his slimy stepbrother wants to get his hands on his army benefits, escapes to Blue Creek, W.Va., where he meets Ally. But there's a mysterious farmer up on the mountain, and extremely unsettling things happen when Ally's brothers begin to help him harvest his crop. Though the two well-realized leads fall in love in a credible fashion, their story is lost amid the overwriting. The palpable aura of sadness surrounding Wes and Ally eventually grows to overwhelming proportions, because most of the other characters are incredibly selfish, greedy, evil or mad. To top it off, the book takes a gruesome, violent turn toward the end that makes it, and its Perils of Pauline plot, even more absurd. Agent, Meredith Bernstein Literary Agency. (Nov.)