The Mystery of the Missing Mum

October 17, 2022
A child launches into detective mode after his mother goes suddenly missing in Moloney’s London-set, character-driven debut. When young Jake and his teen sister, Rose, wake up one Monday morning before Christmas, their white-presenting mother is nowhere to be found, but their grandmother is snoozing in a chair downstairs. Other events prove equally perplexing to Jake: a note from his mother indicates that she has to “go away for awhile”; Jake’s father, who lives nearby, doesn’t seem to know what’s going on; and Jake’s Polish best friend Lukas begins acting distant. Jake makes a list of “places Mum might have gone” (the E.U., the Bahamas, the hospital, Tesco, and Christmas shopping, among others), and as he crosses off each one, he unearths difficult memories, relayed in italicized interstitials, that reveal clues about her whereabouts. Bold capitals emphasize phrases in nearly every paragraph, frequently conveying Jake’s anxious urgency to be reunited with his mother and regain control over his world (“Why did she have to leave? NONE OF IT MADE ANY SENSE”). More family story than whodunit, the plot turns toward emotional discoveries via an arc of maturation and finding hope despite life’s uncertainties. Ages 8–12.

November 15, 2022
His mother's sudden disappearance just 10 days before Christmas adds extra suspense to a young London sleuth's investigation. Not a conventional whodunit, though it opens like one, Moloney's debut tucks in clues aplenty to what's really going on so that alert readers should have little trouble staying ahead of mercurial, stubbornly obtuse Jake--whose narrative, liberally punctuated with words in bold capital letters, chronicles sudden violent mood swings; strange behavior from his Polish best friend, Lukas, and others at school; frustratingly evasive answers to his queries from grown-ups; and the sudden arrival of his crusty grandma to watch over him and his excessively dramatic teenage sister. And, by the time Jake has crossed off his list every possible place his mum might have gone--except the hospital--his own selective amnesia has faded enough to allow him to accept what he, like everyone else, really knew all along: that she's had another breakdown and been checked into a psychiatric facility. Though even mum, during a visit, can't tell Jake for sure when she'll be coming home to stay, the author closes on a hopeful note with hugs, tears, and two festive multifamily Christmas dinners. The conversational tone and authentically childlike voice add humor and reader appeal. Jake's mum is cued as White; his father, who lives in a different flat on the same housing estate, has knee-length locs. Starts out light, but the plot definitely thickens as the story explores relationships and mental health. (Fiction. 9-12)

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