The Missing

A remote and affluent Maine community, Corpus Christi was untouched by the environmental catastrophe that destroyed the neighboring blue-collar town of Bedford. But all that will change in a heartbeat . . .The nightmare is awakened when third-grade schoolteacher Lois Larkin takes the children on a field trip to Bedford. There in the abandoned woods, a small, cruel boy unearths an ancient horror—a contagious plague that transforms its victims into something violent, hungry . . . and inhuman.The long, dark night is just beginning. And all hope must die as the contagion feeds—for the malevolence will not rest until it has devoured every living soul in Corpus Christi . . . and beyond.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In her second novel, Langan delivers a powerhouse creepfest that recalls, in the best way possible, the early work of Stephen King. Corpus Christi, Maine, was once a town of affluence, but since the mysterious paper mill fire in the neighboring town of Bedford (depicted in last year's well-received debut, The Keeper) released dense sulfuric clouds that killed the surrounding forest, Corpus Christi has been in steady decline. When fourth-grade teacher Lois Larkin takes her class on a field trip to the now-abandoned Bedford, they're exposed to a deadly virus that transforms the infected into ravenous, flesh-eating monsters. Rather than stick to zombie lit convention (mindless undead, endless chases), Langan invests her plague with a sinister intelligence of unknown origin, maintaining a skin-crawling tension as the vivid cast of characters succumb to murderous insanity, hunting down and tearing apart animals, neighbors and loved ones. Langan has the control of a pro, parsing just enough horrific details to allow the truly gruesome scenes to play out unbound in the imagination; this solid sophomore effort proves that The Keeper's disturbing ability to burrow into readers' heads and stay there was no fluke. (Oct.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Langan has the control of a pro….”

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A genuine creepfest that recalls, in the best way possible, the early work of Stephen King”

BookPage

“Langan has crafted a grisly horror story that will keep you out of the woods for years to come.”

London Times on The Keeper

“Langan has a sharp eye for the small vivid details of American life, and her characters are utterly believable.”

Brian Keene, Bram Stoker Award winning author of Ghoul and Dead Sea

“...innovative, sharp, and absolutely chilling...”

J.C. Patterson

“THE MISSING is reminiscent of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot with wicked drops of Koontz, Barker, and Straub.”

J.C. Patterson

“[THE MISSING is] as engrossing as a dagger poised at one’s throat.”

Ray Garton, author of THE LOVELIEST DEAD

“An astonishing first novel...chilling, haunting, and so smartly written that the pages fly by like the wind.”

Kelly Link, author of MAGIC FOR BEGINNERS

“THE KEEPER kept me up, late into the night...I’m hoping for a whole shelf of novels by Langan.”

Tim Lebbon, author of DUSK and BERSERK

“[A] brilliant debut, heralding the arrival of a major talent.”

Jack Ketchum, author of OFFSPRING

“A smart, brand-new take on the haunted house story…hard to believe this is a first novel.”

Peter Straub, New York Times bestselling author of IN THE NIGHT ROOM

“[A] distinct and juicy flavor all its own. THE KEEPER begins what should be a very fruitful career.”

Ramsey Campbell, author of SECRET STORY

“A dark and bracingly bleak tale of supernatural terror.”

Publishers Weekly

“Akin to the more ambitious work of Stephen King...this effective debut promises great things to come.”

Douglas E. Winter

“Deft and disturbing... twists expectations into surreal surprises... hypnotic reading - an assured and impressive debut.”

Washington Times

“Echoes of Stephen King resound...the first fruits of a most promising career.”

-Edward Bryant, Locus

“...The new author on the block is definitely a keeper...”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The MissingBy Sarah LanganHarperCollins Publishers, Inc.Copyright © 2007 Sarah LanganAll right reserved.ISBN: 9780060872915Chapter OneWhere Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"George?" Lois Larkin called out to her fourth-grade class. Her voice was muffled, and she held the attendance book close to her nose. It was a sunny Tuesday morning in September, and the clock tower had not yet chimed nine A.M."Uh huh," George answered. He was chewing on a red Crayola.Lois raised her wet eyes from the book. "George, don't eat that. It'll make you thick." Then she took a deep breath, just like she'd learned in speech therapy, and corrected herself: "Sick."George pulled the crayon out of his mouth. Its entire top half was missing, and his teeth were coated in red wax. Lois shook her head. George Sanford: not the brightest of God's children.Lois Larkin was twenty-nine years old, and had been teaching fourth grade since she'd moved back to Corpus Christi seven years ago. Her figure was slender but curvy—what the barflies at the Dew Drop Inn called "slammin'." When the boys and even the girls in her class daydreamed out the window, they were usually fantasizing about the feel of her long, black hair, and the scent of her NILLA Wafer-flavored breath.Kids loved Lois. Parents loved her. Drunks hooted happily at her. Even animals flocked to her. Lois was lovely save for one flaw. The space between her two front teeth was so wide she could cram a pencil through the gap. She'd submitted to six years of braces through middle and high school to close it, but nary a month after the metal cage in her mouth was clipped, her teeth migrated to their nascent terra firma, and the gap returned. When she was excited she lisped, and spit sprayed through the fissure, landing like an indifferent plague on the faces of friends and foes alike. Today, for example, the open page of her attendance book was damp."Jameth Walker?" Lois asked."Here," James called."No kicking, James. Feet thraight ahead . . . straight ahead.""Yeth, Mith Loith," James sang. His smug grin spread from ear to ear. Lois's first instinct was to crack the boy on the head with her soft book, but instead she continued."Caroline?""Here, Miss Lois!" Caroline waved both hands in the air and squirmed in her chair like she had to take a piss. It occurred to Lois that maybe she didn't like kids so much.Lois blotted her eyes with a snot-covered tissue. Took a deep breath. Said the words slowly. "Boys and girls, I have thomething called an allergy. Do you know what that is? Ith when you sneeze a lot and your eyes get all watery. For some people, like Johnnie, dogs make them sneeze. For me, ith mold and ragweed. I'm not crying. Do you understand?"They nodded. Caroline raised her hand and moaned: "Oh! Oh!""Yeth, Caroline.""I have an allergy to penicillin. That's an antibiotic, for, like, if you get AIDS."Lois nodded. "That's very serious, Caroline, and good to know. Now, ith Kerry here today?""Yes.""Alex Fullbright? . . . Michael Fullbright?"The list went on.In fact, Lois was lying. She wasn't suffering from allergies. She was crying. But today was the big class trip, and though she'd wanted to stay home, there hadn't been time to call in a substitute. So here she was, lisping her way through attendance and praying that some snot-nose like James Walker didn't raise his hand and finally point out the obvious—she wasn't wearing her engagement ring.In hindsight, what happened wasn't surprising. A part of her had always known that Ronnie and Noreen were no good. When they used to tell her about some heartbreakingly stupid decision they'd made, like spending their paychecks on lottery tickets instead of rent, the evidence had been as plain as the gap between her teeth; these people were useless. But then she'd forget, because Ronnie's house was a sty that smelled like stale milk, and who else would remember to open the windows so he didn't get a headache? Because sure, Noreen was mean as Joan Crawford on diet pills, but deep down, she had a huge heart, right? You just had to look with a magnifying glass. Besides, Lois wasn't perfect, either. She lisped, collected bugs, and snacked on raw hamburger meat when she was premenstrual, for Christ's sake.Besides, it wasn't their fault her life turned out so crappy. She should never have moved back to Corpus Christi after college. At the University of New Hampshire, she'd been happy. Unlike in high school, where she'd felt like a big-boned giant, college men had asked her on dates. She found friends who shared her love for the Science and Nature category of the Genus edition of Trivial Pursuit. She stopped covering her mouth when she talked, because it turned out that so long as she apologized, people were okay with an occasional ocean spray.But during the winter of her senior year, her father had been driving down the road that connected Corpus Christi to Bedford. His Nissan hatchback skidded on black ice and flipped once before it landed in the woods. The dashboard crumbled, shattering both his legs. It happened late at night, and his frozen body wasn't found until the morning. No one could explain why he'd left a warm bed and his slumbering wife, Jodi Larkin. He had no secret girlfriend, and he didn't smoke or drink. He'd still been belted into the driver's side of the car when the snowplow driver found him. Even with a set of broken legs, most people would have crawled out the open passenger door and searched for help, but not Russell Larkin. They found his cell phone in his pocket, reception clear as a bell, but he never made a single call. Probably, it wasn't a suicide. He'd just wanted to go out for a drive, feel the night air, and look at the stars. Yes, she'd reassured herself; it probably wasn't a suicide.Continues...Excerpted from The Missingby Sarah Langan Copyright © 2007 by Sarah Langan. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

About the Author

Sarah Langan received her MFA in fiction writing from Columbia University. She studied with Michael Cunningham, Nicholas Christopher, Helen Schulman, Susan Kenney, and Maureen Howard, among others, all of whom have been instrumental to her work. The author of The Keeper and the Bram Stoker Award-winning The Missing, she is a master's candidate in environmental medicine at NYU and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

News