Gary is a second year student at UCLA, leaving behind his
Ohio roots. Once he meets Joan, he falls in love, and knows
he wants to make California his home. Gary and his friends,
Brian, Reyn, Stacy and Joan, travel to a Burning Man
festival out in the Black Rock desert. However, this fun
interlude turns bad when someone drugs the group and they
wake up to discover Joan is missing. They try to get
assistance from the local police but are met with little
interest. They head back to campus with the hope that Joan
will show up, even though Gary knows in his gut that
something has happened to her.
Once back at the dorms, they discover Joan's roommate is
also missing and another girl in the dorm, who gives Gary
Joan's parent's phone number, is run down and killed later
that night. They find a strange looking scroll of paper in
her room that mentions protecting someone from "the
outsiders." He also discovers that Joan's Facebook
and other online information, including her student file at
UCLA, has been wiped out. After telling the local police
what they suspect and getting more disinterest in the case,
or at least not enough interest for their comfort, Gary
drives to Joan's parents' home and discovers their dog is
dead and there is blood on the floor. He also finds scrolls
in their house that allude to protection from "the
outsiders," whoever they may be.
Gary returns to campus where he discovers his room has been
ransacked. Before long, he is attacked by strange-looking
men dressed in rudimentary hand-sewn garments, who kidnap,
drug, and cart him off to a ranch in the desert where,
luckily, he escapes. But his hell is not over and after
surviving a few more attacks, he returns to discover his
personal information has been wiped out too.
Gary is determined to find Joan at any cost and that cost
turns out to be heavy. With every action Gary takes, there
is a consequence that affects those around him. That Joan
has been kidnapped by a cult with a leader called Father
becomes obvious, but the means and power this cult has with
a presence in several states is frightening to imagine.
I was glad I had the opportunity to read a Bentley
Little story that I think is sure to entertain horror
and thrill seekers. THE DISAPPEARANCE moves at a clipped
pace through horrific events that leave deadly consequences
along the path to an intense conclusion. Well-worth the
time!
From the Bram Stoker Award-winning "horror poet laureate"
(Stephen King)
When Gary's girlfriend Joan vanishes,
calls to her parents' home yield only dead air. Her school
records are gone. There is no longer any evidence that she
even existed. Most disturbing of all is what Gary does find:
a warning and a tantalizing clue, leading to a mysterious
backward cult known as the Homesteaders. Now Gary may be the
next to disappear.
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