The Missing

Part memoir, part social commentary, this book is about missing people in Great Britain. It's a bit dated now as it was written before the internet came into widespread use, but much of what it says still applies. The book is not about specific cases so much as the phenomenon in general. O'Hagan, a journalist, interviewed runaways and homeless people in addition to law enforcement officials as part of his research. Much of what he says, especially about the people who die and are left undiscovered in their apartments for months, makes for very depressing reading. This book is well worth the time to look at and fostered greater awareness in myself, although I knew a great deal about missing people already.

This is an astonishing book on a number of levels. At its most basic, it provides a fascinating account of how easily it becomes possible for people to 'disappear'. If you've ever sat staring at a kid's face on the back of a milk carton, and wondered 'What happened?', The Missing will go a considerable way to providing answers. But that's not all: as a piece of autobiography -- indeed, as a piece about memory -- The Missing is stunning: precise, lucid, beautiful despite itself. As a piece of reportage, it is, simply, astonishing. My hat goes off to Mr O'Hagan.