The Missing (Keeper #2)

a Remote And Affluent Maine Community, Corpus Christi Was Untouched By The Environmental Catastrophe That Destroyed The Neighboring Blue-collar Town Of Bedford. But All That Will Change In A Heartbeat . . . the Nightmare Is Awakened When Third-grade Schoolteacher Lois Larkin Takes The Children On A Field Trip To Bedford. There In The Abandoned Woods, A Small, Cruel Boy Unearths An Ancient Horror—a Contagious Plague That Transforms Its Victims Into Something Violent, Hungry . . . And Inhuman. the Long, Dark Night Is Just Beginning. And All Hope Must Die As The Contagion Feeds—for The Malevolence Will Not Rest Until It Has Devoured Every Living Soul In Corpus Christi . . . And Beyond. publishers Weekly in Her Second Novel, Langan Delivers A Powerhouse Creepfest That Recalls, In The Best Way Possible, The Early Work Of Stephen King. Corpus Christi, Maine, Was Once A Town Of Affluence, But Since The Mysterious Paper Mill Fire In The Neighboring Town Of Bedford (depicted In Last Year's Well-received Debut, the Keeper ) Released Dense Sulfuric Clouds That Killed The Surrounding Forest, Corpus Christi Has Been In Steady Decline. When Fourth-grade Teacher Lois Larkin Takes Her Class On A Field Trip To The Now-abandoned Bedford, They're Exposed To A Deadly Virus That Transforms The Infected Into Ravenous, Flesh-eating Monsters. Rather Than Stick To Zombie Lit Convention (mindless Undead, Endless Chases), Langan Invests Her Plague With A Sinister Intelligence Of Unknown Origin, Maintaining A Skin-crawling Tension As The Vivid Cast Of Characters Succumb To Murderous Insanity, Hunting Down And Tearing Apart Animals, Neighbors And Loved Ones. Langan Has The Control Of A Pro, Parsing Just Enough Horrific Details To Allow The Truly Gruesome Scenes To Play Out Unbound In The Imagination; This Solid Sophomore Effort Proves That the Keeper 's Disturbing Ability To Burrow Into Readers' Heads And Stay There Was No Fluke. (oct.) copyright 2007 Reed Business Information 2007 Bram Stoker Award winner. A remote and affluent Maine community, Corpus Christi was untouched by the environmental catastrophe that destroyed the neighboring blue-collar town of Bedford. But all that will change in a heartbeat . . .The nightmare is awakened when third-grade schoolteacher Lois Larkin takes the children on a field trip to Bedford. There in the abandoned woods, a small, cruel boy unearths an ancient horror—a contagious plague that transforms its victims into something violent, hungry . . . and inhuman.The long, dark night is just beginning. And all hope must die as the contagion feeds—for the malevolence will not rest until it has devoured every living soul in Corpus Christi . . . and beyond. When schoolteacher Lois Larkin takes her third grade class on a trip to Bedford, a town destroyed by an environmental catastrophe, one of the children unearths an ancient, contagious plague that transforms its victims into something violent, inhuman, and hungry.