You Never Said Goodbye

Sam Cooper, the 34-year-old narrator of this energetic if lightweight thriller from Veste (The Bone Keeper), believes his mother, Laurie, was killed in a car wreck before he moved as a boy from the U.S. to England with his emotionally traumatized father, David. But when Sam visits his savagely beaten father on his father’s deathbed, David murmurs that Laurie is alive. Sam is soon off in search of a ghost, closely trailed by Carson and Hunter, two casually vicious American thugs in the pay of Laurie’s current husband, a possessive sadist—and by the enigmatic Jackson, who has a separate, unknown employer. When the quest takes Sam to America, he discovers new allies (perhaps) and more misdirection as he grapples with the question of why, if she didn’t die, his mother has hidden from him for 25 years. The action that follows is frantic and inventive, as bit players are finished with one shot while the principal characters survive remarkable quantities of bullets and beatings. This isn’t for those seeking nuanced characterizations. Agent: Nicole James, James Literary. (Dec.)