When She Was Gone

Gross (The Orphan Sister) investigates the claustrophobia of the quiet, suburban New Jersey neighborhood where 17-year-old Linsey Hart has gone missing. Through multiple accounts%E2%80%94from the perspective of Linsey's friends, family, and neighbors%E2%80%94hints to the disappearance are gradually revealed. Next door neighbor Mr. Leonard, a retired music teacher suffering from colon cancer, was the last to see Linsey alive, while Reeva, a housewife with three children, frets over hiding her affair with a much younger man. Abigail Stein, Linsey's mother, discovers how alienated the neighbors have become while trying to solicit help tracking down her missing daughter. Timmy, Linsey's love-stricken ex-boyfriend, refuses to give up the search and enlists 10-year-old George Whitebread, a boy with a penchant for taking pictures of neighborhood denizens, to help unravel the mystery of Linsey's disappearance. At times, Gross stumbles as she attempts to bring inessential characters into the fold, but the distinct voices of her main characters shine through to reveal a community roiled by the mysterious disappearance of one of their own. (Mar.)