We Now Return to Regular Life

June 5, 2017
When Sam was 11—just a bratty younger brother, as far as his sister, Beth, was concerned—he was abducted. Now, three years later, he’s been found. Beth shares narrating duties with Sam’s old neighbor Josh, which makes for a rounded view of both the disappearance and life afterward. Now 17, Beth is used to a mother who’s only half there, and she’s made new friends who never knew Sam. Josh, now a high school freshman, still has a secret, but he’s no longer the loser he felt like back when Sam was taken. Wilson (What They Always Tell Us) effectively shows how complex it can be to adjust to change, even when it’s positive. Beth is suddenly interesting to people she doesn’t know, her long-absent father reappears, her mother goes into maternal overdrive, and no one knows what to say to Sam. Josh doesn’t either, but he wants to be Sam’s friend, even though his other friends don’t understand why. Though the book starts slowly, once the characters are established, it offers a moving and believable depiction of a damaged survivor and what his return means to those around him. Ages 14–up.

May 1, 2017
A traumatized abductee returns to his family after having been missing for three years. Eleven-year-old Sam Walsh was on his way to the mall with his best friend, Josh, when he was abducted by a stranger from his hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and taken across the state to Anniston, where he was severely physically and mentally abused. Three years later he returns to his family, seemingly healthy, but as the months go by, the trauma slowly reveals itself as perceived by two narrators: Josh and his older sister, Beth. His return becomes a national media story, and Beth, now a senior in high school, struggles to reidentify herself in the face of new attention from her classmates and the overwhelming upheaval of reconnecting with her lost brother. Josh, struggling to understand his own sexuality, becomes the one person Sam trusts with the discomforting, horrific stories of what happened to him while he was gone. The whole story unfolds in a fast-paced, near-cinematic sweep of Alabama heat, religion, and family drama. Wilson also captures the diversity of one of Alabama's larger urban centers: though Sam, Beth, and Josh are white, Beth's friends are African-American and Latina, and the one friend that Sam made while abducted is African-American, to name a few. Readers may find themselves flipping quickly through the Beth narrative to discover the heart of what happened to Sam. A fast-paced yet complex and heart-rending read. (Fiction. 14-18)

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July 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-Three years ago, Beth Walsh's little brother Sam went missing while out with his friend Josh. Now that Sam has been found alive, Beth is trying to cope with another upheaval, and Josh is struggling with the secrets he's been keeping for three years. Both want to help Sam move forward after the abuse he suffered, but recovery, for all three of them, is not that simple. Wilson has taken a risk in writing a novel about the return of a missing and abused child that does not focus on the victim, and the results are mixed. Beth and Josh are well-developed characters, and the narrative is well paced. However, their problems seem mostly superficial compared with Sam's trauma, and Josh's story fails to reach a conclusion. The absence of Sam's point of view means that his actions are often frustratingly unexplained or shrugged off, no matter how serious. This is particularly an issue in regard to a scene of nonconsensual sexual contact between Sam and Josh. Also, redundant references to the Walsh family's socioeconomic class don't add anything to the story. VERDICT Though not without its merits, this title likely won't satisfy readers; recommended for larger collections.-Elizabeth Saxton, Tiffin, OH

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 15, 2017
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* After having vanished three years earlier, 14-year-old Sam miraculously returns home. His family was convinced he was dead, but, in fact, he'd been abducted by a pedophile, and the police discover Sam when his abductor tries to kidnap a second boy and is caught in the act. With Sam home, the story then becomes one of his slow recovery from his traumatic ordeal, as told from the alternating points of view of two other characters: Sam's older sister, Beth, and his one-time best friend Josh. Their stories tell not only what is happening in the now but, in flashbacks, what happened the day Sam disappeared. The last two people to see him before he vanished, both characters blame themselves for what transpired, but are they really responsible? Whatever the answer, Samas a result of his ordealbelieves no one will ever love him. Mercifully, that's not the case. Beth loves him desperately, and as for Josh, readers discover that he's gay and that he, too, loves Sam. Populated with wonderfully complex and empathetic characters, Wilson's novel is beautifully written, displaying the perfect balance of heartbreak and hope with an always apposite tone and style that will capture readers' hearts as they, too, fall in love with Sam.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2018
Three years after being abducted and held by an abusive kidnapper, Sam Walsh, now fourteen, returns to his family in Tuscaloosa. In alternating chapters, Sam's sister Beth and his best friend Josh reveal what they knew about the kidnapping as well as their complicated responses to Sam's trauma. The emotional issues are poignant, but the novel is uneven; Beth's narrative in particular feels dull.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)