Search - The Boy on the Bus : A Novel

Meg is physically and mentally exhausted. She's a stay-at-home mom to 8 year old Charlie with chronic asthma. One day she goes to meet his school bus and he's not on it. Instead, there's a slightly different red-headed kid, a bit bigger than Charlie, and wearing an argyle sweater she doesn't recognize. It takes her so long to decide what to do, the sheriff is called in, who then notifies Charlie's father who has been away on business for months. When Jeff returns home he fetches teenage angsty daughter Katie back from boarding school, and the stilted family reunion is witness to Meg's breakdown in slow motion.

The premise is smart; it's brilliant how the reader can feel the tension in the relationships, and how caring for an ill child for so long can wreak havoc. I like how with each chapter I changed my mind, whether Charlie is himself or a different boy, whether Meg has lost her mind or is on the verge of doing so, and what might happen to everybody going forward.