KIRKUS REVIEW
Carrie's life is divided in two by the moment her mother Martha disappears, leaving only a note saying she's gone to the movies; strangely, when she doesn't come back, no one but Carrie seems to care. Her work-obsessed father remains aloof; the police--at first--don't consider foul play; and sister Ginny is happy to pronounce that their mother is now what she's always called her--a ``Missing Person.'' Suffering in solitude, Carrie sifts through vague clues; as the pieces come together, she becomes the target of danger. Though first-novelist Pfoutz writes very well, she's not entirely in control of the suspense form; the clues she offers can be so tenuous as to seem arbitrary, or so obvious that they undermine her heroine's well-established intellect and sensitivity. Still, in other ways, her whispery, wavering style emphasizes the realism of the events' unfolding- -life does not consist of neat corners and perfect plots. Her characters' motives are complex and genuine, even those of the elusive Martha, known mostly through Carrie's perplexed, perpetual musings. Ultimately, the mystery works because Carrie's isolated, suspended state is credible from beginning to end. Readers will welcome more from a novelist who has capably created people caught in an intriguing web of relationships. (Fiction. 12+)