Red Leaves by Thomas H. Cook is a beautifully written, haunting story about a devastating event that changes the life of more than one family. A little girl goes missing while under the care of a sixteen year old boy, and many believe that this boy is the one to be held accountable. Unfortunately even his parents have their suspicions.

The on-going police investigation and the anguish of both families is explored but there was something very familiar about this story that actually had me checking to see whether I had already read the book. I hadn’t but I think the plot line was similar to some other books that I had previously read.

Red Leaves examines a horrendous crime and as the pages turn we can see the pressures that both families feel. All is finally revealed in the final chapter but the destruction of these families brought about by accusations, suspicions and lack of communication is firmly in place by then. An interesting, somewhat bleak story. ( )

This was the first of Thomas H. Cook's I have had the pleasure to read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. You are the father of a 15-year old boy. You begin to believe he is responsible for the disappearance of an 8-year old girl. You see the family life you have so carefully constructed begin to fall apart. Those are the lines along which Cook has written an admirable novel. ( )

The narrator lives in a small town with his wife and teenage son, Keith who is a troubled teenager, age 15. Keith babysits for a pretty 8 year old girl, Amy who then disappears. The police suspect Keith. The narrator, Eric, also suspects him but he tries not too. He also faces pressure from Amy's father who just wants her back. Eric has a brother, Warren, who was the _target of a very cold father who gave Eric what he needed, but withheld from Warren. The police continue to put the pressure on and want Keith to confess. Eric has difficulty controlling his dislike of his son. He also suspects his wife of having an affair. Eventually Eric suspects his brother who then kills himself. He then finds the pizza delivery man smokes the same cigarettes as Keith. For some reason, Eric doesn't want to contact the police about this as he believes the police probably already cleared the delivery man. Keith makes the call and starts communicating with his father. Sadly, Amy's father can't stand it anymore and kills Keith and then himself. Amy is then found and rescued from the real kidnapper. Throughout the story, Eric also looks back on his own childhood. Interesting book.

A young girl disappears and the sullen, loner 17-year old boy who had been babysitting her prior in the evening becomes the main suspect. The story is told from the point of view of the teenager’s father, who suddenly suspects he knows little about the members of his own family. This story was great but I had to reduce a star because of the intense foreshadowing that was as subtle as a sledgehammer. I must give extra praise for the cover of the hardcover edition, which is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. ( )

In haste . . .

I don't have time to review stuff at the moment (though I'm on the final straight of the huge film noir encyclopedia, hurrah!), but fury has driven me to make a note here. This would probably have had five stars from me had it not been for its repeated illiteracy of using the word "peddle" in place of "pedal" (the adolescent at the tale's heart rides a bicycle). Mr Cook's copyeditor has served him ill.
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A beautifully written, tragic story of a family's struggle to withstand a catastrophic event in their lives. ( )

This book reminded me of the Biblical story of Job.

Like Job, Eric Moore, had pretty much everything, he had a successful job, was looked up to in the community and a good family.

One night, his teenage son was asked to babysit for their eight-year-old neighbor. The next morning, the neighbor called and said that his daughter was missing.

The story goes on to elaborate the growing doubt and the circumstantial evidence that points to Keith.

The police confiscate Keith's computer and then bring him in for questioning.

The details are laid out in a lyrical fashion and when something happens to one character, the girl's father tells Eric that this doesn't change anything.

The conclusion is beautifully done and leaves the reader wondering how one man can endure so much. ( )

Beautifully written. A tragic telling of the disintegration of a family after a 15-year old is investigated in the disappearance of a 6-year old he was babysitting. Although I read this book with unease, I couldn't put it down. ( )

An excellent suspense filled novel of misunderstanding,how suspicion and trivial things in life can result in tragedy told in the excellent,literary quality writing of Thomas H Cook. ( )

"Red Leaves" by Thomas H. Cook may be the first ever true mystery that I have read. I can't tell you exactly what I was thinking, or what appealed to me when I pick up this book. I generally don't read myseteries and even though I have read other male authors before, it is rare that they appeal to me.
That being said, I cannot say that I enjoyed this book. This book made me very uncomfortable. Mr. Cook told a story of a family torn apart by suspician and the loss of a neighbors child. "Red Leaves" forces you to think about what happens when little girls are kidnapped. I was kept awake at night thinking about what it would be like if it was my daughter. I hated that fact. No mother wants to think such thoughts.
However, because of the fact that this book made me uncomfortable and made me think disturbing thoughts, I must say that Thomas H. Cook did what every author strives to do: he made me sit up and notice, think and ponder, worry and get angry. It is for these facts that I would say "Red Leaves" is a successful book, even if not a good book. ( )

Red Leaves is a harrowing psychological drama which I liked even more than "The Cloud of Unknowing". It is a sensitive and terribly sad story which will haunt you for days. I loved it. ( )

In this tense novel, a father describes what happens to his family after his teenage son falls under suspicion of kidnapping a little girl he babysits. Once started, it is hard to put the book down: up to the end it is unclear whether the child will live or die, whether the father will have faith in his son, and whether the family will survive the ordeal, although it's obvious from the way the story is told that all does not end well.

My main problem with the story is how the boy's parents react to the little girl's disappearance. The morning after the son babysits, they receive a hysterical call from the girl's father. After reassuring the girl's father that they have no information, the family simply goes on with its routine of jobs and school. They don't go over to the girl's home, they don't offer to help in the search, they don't get an attorney, and they don't even seem all that curious as to what's happened - until the police start showing up. While I was glued to the action, I couldn't get this unlikely reaction out of my mind. ( )

Librarything-o-meter thinks I 'will love' this book... and it isn't wrong! I bought this on a whim and from the first page absolutely couldn't put it down. I'm not a fast reader, so it's a good job I'm on holiday at the moment, because I read until I finished it.

An eight-year-old girl goes missing sometime during the night that her neighbour's teenage son was on babysitting duty. After the initial shock and immediate defence of his son, Eric Moore begins to question whether he is in fact innocent at all. He is 'odd', a loner with self-esteem issues and seems to have trouble telling the truth. As Eric's world unravels it seems that no family members are what they seem and his suspicions grow about everyone around him.

I thought I had the ending sussed fairly early on, but I was only partly right and wasn't prepared for the way the story played out. The book is gripping and everytime I tried to put it down, it magically appeared in my hands again. On the surface it's an excellent mystery/thriller, at a deeper level it's a brilliant exploration of relationships, of the many faces we all choose to show others at various times and of the consequences of suspicion that begins 'with a subtle itch', but quickly becomes a 'raging affliction'. Wondefully written and an excellent read. ( )

This was my first book by Thomas Cook, but it won't be the last. He is an incredibly gifted writer. The story about a pedophile and a missing little girl is sad and incomprehensible to us "normal people". But the mystery about the abduction and apparent murder actually pale in comparison to the real story about relationships within the Eric Moore family and those who live around them. ( )

A heartbreaking story. ( )

I had trouble starting this book, it is about the abduction of a young girl. I don't generally like books that put children in peril as the emotional core of their story. But what the book turns out to really be about is the father of a teenage boy and his struggle with the growing suspicion that his son may be involved in her disappearance. A man who's almost idyllic life is in stark contrast to his own very unhappy childhood. It is the telling of both of these stories , the unhappy "1st family" and the almost idllyic world of the "2nd family" that the author wants to tell.

The author, Thomas Cook, tells the two stories, of the first family and the second family, very slowly and exceptionally well. So well in fact that the problems that occur with the plot were easier for me to accept than they normal are. The plot is not really the central theme of the book so problems with the plot are not so important. The story of this father and his 2 families and the story of this father and his son are the central themes which the author explores exceptionally well. One weakness that does detract at times is the wife/mother in the 2nd family. Her responses and interactions with the father (her husband) are done very well; they help to advance the story several times. We learn a lot about him through her eyes. But her reactions and interactions with her son do not feel right. She is much to distant from him at the most imortant moment in his life. It does help that she is so distant because it gives the dad who was very distant from his son before the tragedy occurs, an opportunity to develop how he will react to his suspicions about his son slowly. But it doesn't feel like what this woman would do if confronted by what is happening to her son. She would be more protective and not just wait for her husband to figure out what he is going to do. She would know what she wanted to do much sooner than the father and would do it. It might be wrong but she would do it. The other poblem in the book is that after slowly telling these two stories so well, the author then has the father do someting very much out of character at the very end (page 279 of the 1st edition version). It does give the ending a bigger emotional whallop, but it is stll very much out of character for what the father has gradually become.

I like this writer and the way he told this story better than I liked the book. But it is still a good book. And Thomas Cook is obviously a very good writer. ( )

I enjoyed this book like I do most of Thomas Cook's book. Not a very difficult read, but I love the way he unravels the story as you go along. You start with the big picture and he continues to wittle away until all of the dark secrets are revealed. The subject matter, a teenage boy being suspected of a crime, was a little emotionally troubling for me, given that I am a mother. I did enjoy this book and look forward to reading more of his books. ( )

This was a satisfying read though the content was difficult at times (child abduction) and the ending did produce some tears. Thanks to SW for the recommendation. ( )

Stand-alone mystery, my first read (or listen) by this author. A small-town family is torn apart when a young girl disappears from her home, and the teenage son of the man telling the story is suspected in some foul play in the matter. During the course of these events, several other issues plaguing the man and his family—even his distant family, relating to his father’s previous business dealings and his mother’s death, his brother’s alcoholism, etc. are brought to light. While I loved the author’s way with words and the way he was able to depict raw emotion and flay the protagonist’s soul open to inspection, I can’t say I think much of his plotting, as he seemed to broadcast every plot twist long in advance and by mid-book I had a gut feeling for exactly how it would end, and I was right, which disappointed me very much. I don’t want to give anything away, so I won’t say more. Excellent writing (and reading) aside, ultimately the book was just plain depressing and not much of a thriller or a mystery. There were also too many issues that were never firmly wrapped up, but left to the reader’s imagination to decide what had ‘really’ happened—which I don’t mind occasionally because my imagination is generally up to the task—but in this case, there were just TOO many things left that way…it felt as thought the author just couldn’t be bothered to wrap things up, or something. ( )

A subtle picture of disturbia. ( )

the collatoral harm from tragic events

Eric Moore, the narrator of "Red Leaves", has had his share of family troubles in his life. His sister died of leukaemia when he was in his teens, his mother committed suicide, his father is harsh and abrasive, and his brother Warren, a house painter by trade, is cultivating a drink problem.

Nevertheless, with his second family, he's carved a life for himself he is reasonably content with. He lives in a small town called Westley, is married to college professor Meredith, has a somewhat withdrawn teenage son called Keith and owns and runs a small photographic store.

One evening, Keith babysits 8-year old Amy Giordano. Prior to leaving the Giordano's house, Keith 'phones home to say he will be out for another couple of hours, a very uncharacteristic act according to his father.

The following morning, Amy is discovered to be missing. Suspicion immediately falls on Keith. Not just the police's suspicion either, but his father is unable to overcome his own fears that Keith might be guilty of a hideous crime, especially as evidence mounts pointing to his son being the perpetrator.

I can't tell you much more without the use of spoilers. "Red Leaves" is a brilliant and forensic examination of the corrosive nature of suspicion, as Eric's life and family start to fall apart thanks to the suspicions of others about his family, and also his own.

This is my first novel by Cook, and it appears to be expertly done - the twists and turns are well managed and the shifts keep the reader feeling ambivalent about Eric's reactions to them right to the end. This was deservedly nominated for a Dagger award in 2006. ( )

I really enjoyed this book. It captivated me from the start and kept my attention. It flows and was written gracefully. The relationship between the characters were real. Really liked this book. I look forward to my next Cook book. ( )

The most appealing book on the 2006 Daggers shortlist with a most beautiful dust jacket. An absolutely stunning crime novel with a heart-breaking denouement. ( )

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