Evidence of Things Not Seen

In her first novel for teens, Lane, author of the picture book Snuggle Mountain, offers a gripping and genre-bending mosaic centered around the sudden disappearance of physics-obsessed high school junior Tommy Smythe. Lane presents the first-person narratives of characters being interviewed by the small Texas town's sheriff about Tommy and third-person vignettes that read like character studies. Chatty Kimmie Jo is exploring her Mexican identity; Marshall attempts a romantic relationship with the new girl in town, who has a troubled past; Alvin is inspired by Tommy to conceive of a life away from his abusive father and thankless employment at a salvage yard; Maricela, a migrant worker, wishes for a more stable life; while many others consider their futures. Ponderings from Tommy's notebook about quantum physics appear throughout%E2%80%94specifically, questions of parallel dimensions and infinite possibilities%E2%80%94blurring the boundaries between observable reality and the unseen. Each character has some connection, even if tangential, to Tommy, whose disappearance speaks to the inscrutability of time, the universe, and the construction of individual truths. Ages 12%E2%80%93up. Agent: Erin Murphy, Erin Murphy Literary Agency. (Sept.)