|
The Boy on the Bus by Deborah Schupack |
| (Free Press, $23.00, NV) ISBN 0-7432-4220-3 |
 |
|
The school bus pulls up in the front of the Landry-Carroll house in rural Vermont, but no child gets off. Meg goes out to investigate. The boy sitting in the rear of the bus looks a lot like her son, Charlie, but there are slight differences. This boy isn’t asthmatic like Charlie, doesn’t act like Charlie, and doesn’t seem to know some things Charlie would know. A mother ought to know her own son, shouldn’t she? After some length of time, Meg convinces the boy to leave the bus and come into the house with her. More than her doubts about the boy’s identity, Meg’s perceptions seem somewhat divorced from reality.
The disruption of the school bus schedule comes to the notice of the sheriff who contacts Jeff, Charlie’s father. He and Meg never married, and their relationship is becoming increasingly distant. Their son’s asthma has consumed the greater part of Meg’s attention affecting the family dynamics, alienating her from friends and family, and overriding her artistic ambition. Jeff, an architect, is frequently away on business trips that are becoming longer in duration, effectively abandoning his family. Jeff returns home from Toronto. Meg and he summon their thirteen-year-old hostile and resentful daughter, Katie (who insists on being called Katherine), from private school. “What’s so wrong with the little creep now?” But the question remains. Is this boy really Charlie or not? The Boy on the Bus is an eerie book with a decided Twilight Zone feel. The book’s blurb characterizes it as a “psychological mystery.” It is rooted in every mother’s worst fear: she will put her child on the bus in the morning, but he will fail to return that afternoon. A strength of the book is the gradual escalation of the somber atmosphere. The reader knows something dire has happened but along with the book’s characters isn’t sure what. Some of the language further displays the author’s talent.
But she was porous with exhaustion. Porous as coral. Sea and sand sweeping in, sweeping out, eroding, returning such a thing as coral to the ocean.The writing style, however, is uneven. There are sections of the book where the plot skips awkwardly without a smooth segue. Katie is a relatively minor character, but she is more effectively portrayed than Charlie, who remains an enigma to the end.. It is understandable that Meg is confused about whether the boy is really her son - he doesn’t act like a real eight-year-old. Although she appears in only a few scenes, Katie’s manner resonates with authenticity - yes, a thirteen-year-old girl does act like this, particularly one who’s been shunted aside by her kid brother’s needs. Mystery readers deserves a warning: those who expect a mystery to come to a resolute conclusion with every thread neatly tied may be bothered by the book’s ambiguous end. This is a haunting book that may appeal to readers who are looking for something out of the ordinary.
--Lesley Dunlap |
Please tell us what you think!
Back Home