All That is Mine I Carry with Me by William Landay

William Landay's last novel was published eleven years ago. Defending Jacob made a big splash in the literary world, landing a place on everybody's reading list and more recently being made into a drama mini-series. One could make a case for this new novel as being highly anticipated to say the least. A former assistant district attorney, this author is expert at writing a crime novel.

The Larkin family's youngest child Miranda comes home from school one day and her mother, who is usually waiting for her, is noticeably absent. Eleven-year-old Miranda is at first not alarmed and relishes in her unexpected freedom. But as the hours tick by she becomes more and more uneasy. This is 1975 and before cell phones, so she waits for her father and two older brothers to arrive home from work and school. Thus begins the saga of Jane Larkin's disappearance and the unanswered questions that plague the family for the next forty plus years.

Dan Larkin, the husband and father in the family, is a suspect right away. He works as a public defendant and is presumed knowledgeable in making a person look innocent. But with zero actual evidence and no body there is little law enforcement can do. Jane's car is found at the train station but it's completely clean of fingerprints other than those of the family. Eventually Dan moves on with another woman and the children are left with a huge hole in their lives where their loving mother used to be.

Life must go on but not without the trauma dramatically affecting the children as they grow up. Divisiveness becomes the new normal as the three Larkin offspring must deal with the gut-wrenching reality of unknowingness. Jane's sister and confidant Kate plays a huge role in pointing the finger at Dan Larkin whom she has never liked or trusted. When bones are finally unearthed the Larkins hope for a resolution that will finally bring an end to their ordeal.

Told in four sections, from four different characters' point of view, this novel reaches its disquieting yet satisfying conclusion almost half a century after Jane Larkin disappears. Landay adeptly captures the agony of a family torn apart by a loss and the evolution of the characters throughout. This domestic drama/fictional crime story is excellent and highly recommended.