The Missing (2009) (edit title/settings)

• Rated 3 stars

“This is the first Gautreaux I've read but I'm glad I finally picked him up. His strengths were in the fully fleshed out, dynamic characters he created and his wonderful, descriptive passages. That said, he lost me several times with boggy, overly technical details and the strange "voice" he gave to the main character. The main character is supposed to be a back-woods Cajun man who moves to the big city and yet he speaks perfectly enunciated English and it just seemed unnatural sometimes. But this was a small quibble about an otherwise great book and I would definitely read Gautreaux again and soon.”

• Rated 4 stars

“Long but good. Interesting ethical issues and history.”

• Rated 0 stars

“Not one of his better ones although I still enjoyed it. too much time on the boat but then again this was supposed to conjure frustration to mirror that of the story.”

• Rated 5 stars

“Tim Gautreaux is a dream of a writer, with a rare and wonderful talent for setting an era and populating it with fascinating people. I say "people" because his creations are far more substantial than mere characters; they get up and walk around and fascinate the reader with their unpredictability. Nothing, in any of his books, is ever predictable. This time out, he takes us for a lengthy ride on a ramshackle entertainment steamboat, making music and discovering his personal depths as he searches for a stolen child and his long-lost family. From small children to rotting-alive villains, everyone is real; and one reads, often, with held breath--fearful/hopeful of what might happen next. This is, quite simply, as good as it gets when it comes to quality fiction.”

• Rated 5 stars

“Enjoyed imagining the setting of Mississippi riverboats after WW I, and the birth of the jazz scene and ragtime. The main character is my favorite - the reluctant hero. He doesn't want to be violent, but he knows he has the capacity for it and the skill. Never have I read of a character who was berated by his wife into becoming a hero. Funny.”

• Rated 2 stars

“The writing in this book just seemed contrived and awkward. Not really on par with his early beauty "The Clearing".”

• Rated 4 stars

“Sam Simoneaux is the floorwalker at a New Orleans department store. When a little girl goes missing on his watch, his whole life is turned upside down. I liked everything about this book – the 1920s setting, the sense of place, the insider look at life on a Mississippi River boat, and Sam Simoneaux himself. ”

• Rated 4 stars

“another thought provoking, beautifully descriptive book by Tim Gautreaux”

• Rated 2 stars

“This book has received rave reviews but it wasn't for me. Too American? Too masculne? Too drawn out. I couldn't finish it.”

• Rated 3 stars

“I liked this book, but wasn't as excited by it as I expected. The ending felt a little contrived to me. ”