Off the Face of the Earth [Hardcover]

Aljean Harmetz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 1997

When eight-year-old David Greene climbs through his bedroom window and walks to a nearby suburban mall, he intends only to give his mother Drew a scare. But on this Southern California evening, David's game turns into every parent's worst nightmare. Denver's abduction of David is practiced and nearly perfect. A friendly "stranger" masking a deeply confused and dangerous mind, Denver woos David with stacks of baseball cards, swiftly undermining the boy's trained responses. When David accepts the offer of a ride home, he disappears - off the face of the earth. As the hours pass, Drew's emotions escalate, from anger at her son's disobedience to fear, to stunned disbelief when she realizes David is not with his father or friends. He's gone. All too soon, the Sherwood Police charge a local schizophrenic with David's murder and declare the case closed. Fueled by terror and an acute instinct that her son is still alive, Drew appeals to her disjointed family and a maverick police officer. Together they launch their own full-scale search. The story alternates between Drew's frantic hunt for the son she knows is still living and the boy's brave struggle to survive by leaving clever hints of his presence even as Denver retreats further and further into insanity.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Eight-year-old David Greene is a difficult kid, troubled by his parents' divorce. Sent to his room for fighting with his little brother, he runs away, intending to return by dark. By the time Drew, his mother, realizes he's missing, David has journeyed to the mall in his home town and been abducted by a drifter. Beaten and robbed of his identity?literally speechless with fear?David nevertheless refuses to surrender to his captor's madness. He leaves ingenious clues for his mother and her search team: the battle-scarred detective assigned to the case, Drew's ex-husband's computer-savvy young girlfriend; and Drew's mother, who dotes on her three golden retrievers. This first novel from Harmetz (The Making of the Wizard of Oz, LJ 10/1/77) is more than just another child-in-jeopardy thriller. She's created a multilayered story with unforgettable characters. Fans of Joy Fielding will love this. Highly recommended for all fiction collections.
-?Laurel A. Wilson, Alexandrian P.L, Mount Vernon, Ind.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In the wake of his parents' divorce, eight-year-old David Greene has taken to running away, usually to a friend's. Early one evening he takes off again, to a nearby mall where he is kidnapped by a psychopathic stranger. The rest of Harmetz's take on this familiar nightmare scenario alternates between David's fearful adventures with his sometimes amiable, sometimes brutal captor and his mother's search for him, in which she is helped most by a staunch police detective. Whitley Strieber's Billy (1990) is the definitive treatment of this plot, and many aspects and details of Harmetz's effort echo Strieber's much more horrific thriller. But this is a calmer book, and Harmetz's primary concentration on the mother's perspective makes it less sensational and more sympathetic than Billy, which focused mostly on the kidnapper's delusions and the boy's coming unhinged by what was happening to him. And calmer or not, Harmetz's novel finishes in good, pulse-pounding thriller form. Ray Olson

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; First Edition ~1st Printing edition (August 11, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684836173
• ISBN-13: 978-0684836171
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,762,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars good read, May 18, 2009

By 

K. Ku "intelgal" (MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Off the Face of the Earth (Hardcover)

Not the best written literature ever but it is written quite well. It kept me on my toes and I finished it in 2 days... this is good for weekend read or taking on to the plane.

2.0 out of 5 stars Lots of Blah-Blah, February 3, 2002

By 

James Carragher (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Off the Face of the Earth (Hardcover)

This novel pushes every parent's worst fear button, that their child will one day suddenly and completely disappear. It is also quite compelling in the scenes with the pedophile kidnapper and the boy. Beyond that, it feels padded and overlong. The characters are screen-ready caricatures, maybe because Harmetz used to cover Hollywood for the New York Times. Most annoying are the numerous moments when the narrative veers, momentarily or for several sentences, into Basic Truth Writing, e.g. "On some streets, rush hour in Los Angeles lasts all day" or "It is odd how quickly the abnormal becomes normal.", the standard weapons of a writer not yet skilled enough or confident enough to rely on her writing alone to convey the intended Basic Truth. While the novel is a quick read -- often because you can skip a lot -- and competently, no more, written, the reasons for the strongly positive reviews of it in the NYT and elsewhere elude me.

4.0 out of 5 stars Harmetz Uses What Few Suspense Novelists Utilize: Her Heart!, July 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Off the Face of the Earth (Paperback)

Ms. Harmetz's first novel caught my interest only because of the rave reviews from the Times and others. I would otherwise not have picked up this book, due to its trite subject matter.

I was pleasantly surprised, however, by this debut novel.

It was not, unfortunately, Harmetz's "thriller" technique that won me over. In fact, lesser writers have done better than her at mystery and suspense techniques that keep the reader yearning for more. (Such as plot, knowledge of forensics, clever twists, etc.)

No. The thing that lingers with me most, after having finished the book, is her wonderful cast of round and believable (and sympathetic!) characters. Her characters, their reactions and motives throughout the tale show that Harmetz has a heart, and consequently, so do her characters AND book. This is truly the merit of her writing, and truly the evidence of a good novelist.

I look forward to more fiction from this writer.