David Hanks

The Disappearance: a Novel Based on a True Crime David Hanks

Georgia, 1972. After Helen Harmon drops her three children off at school andher husband, Jerry, leaves for his job as a security guard at the state prison,she heads to her office at the Winkler Outdoor Advertising Company inValdosta, Georgia-and is never heard from again. The Harmon family can't believe that Helen would simply vanish, but thethought of foul play is just too horrible to contemplate. Weeks and monthspass, and the family comes to slowly realize that something horrendous andtragic happened the summer of 1972. Helen and Jerry's son, thirteen-year-old Harold, takes the loss especiallyhard. Since his father is an emotional wreck, and his older sister moves away, Harold takes on the heavy responsibility of helping his younger sister copewith the loss. But his mother's inexplicable disappearance haunts him. If hecould only have the closure that every person who loses a loved one needsand wants, maybe he could somehow get on with his life. Harold grows to maturity, still longing for the mystery to be solved, eventhough it appears to be hopeless. But when a startling discovery is made bytwo brothers, it ignites a community's mandate for the truth, sending Haroldon a quest to uncover the long-buried reality for himself.