impressed
John Corey Whaley's novel, WHERE THINGS COME BACK (Atheneum 2011) is a complex and rather convoluted story that seamlessly brings together what appears to be two separate and distinct story lines (and maybe more). The Lazarus woodpecker, long thought extinct, is spotted in a tiny Arkansas town. Before long, tourists and naturalists descend on the quiet town where a family is still searching for a teenaged boy who seems to have disappeared into thin air. In another town, a college student searches for answers when his roommate commits suicide on Christmas Eve. How will these two stories ever converge? That is part of the mystery in this remarkable novel. The descriptions elevate the mundane to extraordinary (check out how the author talks about corn dogs on page 157 for instance) and makes the extraordinary seem everyday normal and natural. In some ways reminiscent of the plot pyrotechnics of HOLES by Louis Sachar, this book will cause readers to look back and ponder what has transpired. <322>