Jonathan Littleton realizes he has a unique opportunity to repair his timeline when his ex-girlfriend is hit by a car and, during a five day coma, loses her memory of what occurred in the last three years. She doesn’t remember moving out several months earlier when learning of a crass and unfeeling episode in Jonathan’s life that reveals his true character.

The book is written so truthfully that we understand why Hazel’s parents and even her best friend go along with Jonathan’s lie that Hazel will be coming home to his apartment where they will resume the life, including marriage, he expected to have with her.

Hazel’s struggle to pin down her feeling that something’s terribly wrong is muted, because we never read her point of view. Jonathan carries the book along until a couple of likeable strangers interfere - a troubled roofer and an itinerant actress. The way their lives intersect with Jonathan and Hazel is as serendipitous as Hazel’s memory loss. The combination rattles everyone - things fall from their lives, like paint flakes brushed from a house. Reading this book is an anticipatory exercise in gravity. Who will make it to the end, and in what condition?

Lovesey has written a careful book, full of deeper shades of meaning. It is perfect for a book club, or a college lit class where you get a headache explaining to each other what the author really meant. For the rest of us, it is a slightly disturbing read, excellently done. There is no mystery at all - this is a novel. For something different and harsher than your usual light summer fare, I recommend The Missing World.

--Diane Gotfryd