THINGS HOPED FOR

Seventeen-year-old Gwen is from Charleston, W.Va., but she has been studying violin in New York City and living with her grandfather. Grampa’s health is poor, and his younger brother needs him to agree to sell the apartment house they jointly own. This threatens to shatter Gwen’s concentration just as she comes up to her auditions for Julliard. Then Gwen’s grandfather vanishes, leaving cryptic recorded instructions for her to follow. Gwen dodges Great Uncle Hank with the help of Robert, a trumpet student in town for auditions of his own. Grampa’s body turns up, the police get involved and a sinister invisible stranger complicates everything. This companion to Things Not Seen (2002) is a disappointment in comparison. Though some of the plot centers on Robert’s earlier invisibility, that part resolves itself off-stage, and it’s the story of the missing Grampa that is harder to believe. Endless nattering about the auditions may hold some appeal for musical students, and the heavily embroidered New York references might attract others, but most will hope for it all to be over. (Fiction. 12-14)