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When eight year old David Greene climbs through his bedroom window and walks to a nearby suburban mall, he intends only to give his mother Drew a scare. But on this Southern California evening, David's game turns into every parent's worst nightmare.Denver's abduction of David is practiced and nearly perfect. A friendly "stranger" masking a deeply confused and dangerous mind, Denver woos David with stacks of baseball cards, swiftly undermining the boy's trained responses. When David accepts the offer of a ride home, he disappears off the face of the earth.As the hours pass, Drew's emotions escalate, from anger at her son's disobedience to fear, to stunned disbelief when she realizes David is not with his father or friends. He's gone. All too soon, the Sherwood Police charge a local schizophrenic with David's murder and declare the case closed. Fueled by terror and an acute instinct that her son is still alive, Drew appeals to her disjointed family and a maverick police officer. Together they launch their own full scale search.The story alternates between Drew's frantic hunt for the son she knows is still living and the boy's brave struggle to survive by leaving clever hints of his presence even as Denver retreats further and further into insanity. From a writer with a masterful talent for characterization and a remarkable ability to touch on our most basic fears, this flawlessly paced thriller is psychological suspense at its terrifying best.Aljean Harmetz reported on Hollywood for the New York Times for over a decade. She has written several books, including THE MAKING OF THE WIZARD OF OZ, and ROUND UP THE USUAL SUSPECTS: THE MAKING OF CASABLANCA. She is the mother of three children and lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband and her dog.

"Believable, well-weighted characters and dialogue...."

Kirkus, 06/15/1997

"...[B]ecause Harmetz manages to do the harder job of imagining the experience of both perpetrator and victim, her story lingers in the mind well after the reader has raced through its pages to the conclusion."

Jennifer Egan, New York Times Book Review, 09/14/1997

Off the Face of the Earth: A Novel: Search Results