For Nothing Is Hidden: Inspired by One of the Oldest Unsolved Missing Child Cases in U.S. History

BookLife, Publishers Weekly Comparable Titles:

Emma Donoghue's Room and Lisa Jewell's Then She Was Gone

"(Valenti) provides In Cold Blood-like depth to this fictional account" -- Kirkus Reviews

"If you're not losing sleep over what happened to little Bobby Goodson, I don't know what book you're reading" -- Toni Woodruff, Independent Book Review

"Valenti's background in journalism shines through . . . the result being a no-frills, unflinching look at grief and uncertainty that lingers long after the final page" -- BookLife, Publishers Weekly

"Extremely strong characters . . . The shifting perspectives do a great job in cultivating suspicion. We really never know who to trust" -- Quarterfinalist, ScreenCraft Cinematic Book Competition

A frantic mother tells cops her kids have vanished in broad daylight from outside a suburban Long Island market on Halloween. Inspired by one of the oldest unsolved missing child cases in U.S. history [the 1955 disappearance of Steven Damman] and other worldwide missing child cases like it, For Nothing Is Hidden, is a cautionary tale spanning more than 50 years -- from the initial disappearance of little Bobby Goodson to its impact on the already tenuous marriage of his small-town, middle America-raised parents en route to the unlikeliest of resolutions decades later. You'll think you'll know it all from the start. Truth is, you won't.

The debut novel by John A. Valenti 3rd, a veteran national award-winning journalist for the Long Island, New York-based Newsday.

John A. Valenti 3rd is a critically acclaimed author [Swee'pea, The Story of Lloyd Daniels and Other Playground Legends; Atria Books, a Simon & Schuster] and poet [13 Poets from Long Island; Bushwickborn Productions, Inc. / Pope Brothers Ink] who has appeared on hundreds of TV and radio shows, including NPR and Good Morning America. He also is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 episode Big Shot, which delves into his national award-winning reporting on John Spano and his fraudulent attempt to buy the NHL New York Islanders.

Valenti’s decades of insightful, in-depth reporting shine through as this novel explores the often untold strains of a criminal investigation, peeling back layers on the marriage of Driscoll and Colleen Goodson as police and the media pore through the smallest details of their lives in an attempt to find their missing son. Valenti ties in real crimes of the day -- the so-called "Shooting of the Century" killing of millionaire William Woodward Jr. by his socialite wife Ann; the famed "Boy in the Box" mystery -- in a seamless weave of events that blur the line between fact and fiction in this literary, historic crime novel.

As BookLife, Publishers Weekly, said of the debut: "Valenti skillfully probes the heartbreaking tragedy of missing child cases: the slow, unraveling grief of not knowing, the persistent hope that tomorrow may bring news, and the quiet terror of imagining the worst, all colliding against the exhausting machinery of police procedure, by necessity methodical and impersonal . . . There's a clean precision in how the investigation unfolds and a restraint in tone that sidesteps melodrama.

"Using multiple perspectives -- cops and journalists, family and neighbors -- and anchoring the story in true historical events, Valenti builds a grounded narrative that feels at once immediate and universal."

A national award-winning reporter for Newsday and author of the critically acclaimed Swee'pea and Other Playground Legends, about former All-American Lloyd (Swee'pea) Daniels and New York City playground basketball [Published by Michael Kesend Publishing, Ltd., 1990 / Reissued by Simon & Schuster imprint Atria Books, July 2016], John A. Valenti 3rd has appeared on hundreds of television and radio shows, including NPR and Good Morning America with Charles Gibson. He's had featured roles in The Legend of Swee'pea, an award-winning documentary by Benjamin May, and the Emmy-winning ESPN 30-for-30 Big Shot by Kevin Connolly - the latter the story of how John Spano fleeced Fleet Bank out of $80 million to buy the NHL New York Islanders while claiming to be a Dallas multimillionaire and how Valenti headed a team of Newsday reporters and uncovered the truth, leading to the federal conviction of Spano. A veteran of four decades with Newsday, Valenti has been honored with national first-places finishes in the prestigious Society of the Silurians, Associated Press Sports Editors and National Headliner Award competitions, including APSE Best Enterprise Reporting in 1996 as part of team that reported a ground-breaking series on concussions and for Best Investigative Reporting in 1997 for his investigation of Spano. He was the lead columnist on Newsday's "Death on the Roads" series that earned the esteemed Silurians Community Service Award in 2004, was part of a team that took first place in the 2007 Silurians competition for "Death of a Yankee," the reporting of the plane crash that killed New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle, and the 2012 First Place award by Silurians for Online Breaking News coverage of 2011 Tropical Storm Irene. He also was part of the Newsday team that won the 2024 National Headliner Award for breaking news coverage of the arrest of alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann. Valenti has covered Major League Baseball, the NBA, NHL, the 1994 World Cup Soccer Tournament, major-college sports and breaking news events and Newsday submitted his work for Pulitzer Prize consideration at least 10 times between 1987 and 2024. Among notable figures Valenti has interviewed include: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Julius Erving, Billie Jean King, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Mario Andretti, Wayne Gretzky, Pele and the first two men to walk on the Moon - Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. He was a candidate for the 1986 NASA-sponsored "Journalist in Space Project" and made his critically acclaimed debut as a poet in 13 Poets from Long Island in 2023. For Nothing is Hidden is his debut novel. Valenti lives in Elmhurst, Queens, with wife and longtime companion Elizabeth Eser Jose. He has one son, Jarek.