What Was Lost Issue #36

by Catherine O'Flynn (Henry Holt, 256 pages, $14)

By Guy Patrick Cunningham
Published: June 1st, 2008 | 10:21am

Catherine O’ Flynn’s literary debut may center on the mystery surrounding a 10-year-old’s disappearance, but the story belongs to its characters’ inner lives. Which is fortunate, because it’s these characters who redeem this likable, though flawed, novel.

In many ways, What Was Lost is a story about loneliness, starting with 10-year-old Kate, who styles herself as a “junior detective” in tribute to her late father, a fan of Hollywood mysteries. Neglected by her grandmother, Kate spends most of her time casing the Green Oaks shopping mall. Her only friends are her stuffed monkey and a 22-year-old neighbor named Adrian who sometimes “hires” her to patrol his father’s store. One day, Kate mysteriously disappears.

Twenty years later, it is Adrian’s sister Lisa who is battling loneliness at Green Oaks. When a widowed security guard named Kurt “sees” a child who may be Kate on the mall’s surveillance cameras, he and Lisa decide to investigate. Instead of falling into the genre cliche, Kurt and Lisa’s efforts to piece together the truth about Kate become a catalyst for changing their own stalled lives. The scenes between the two form the heart of the novel.

When the book aims for social commentary, however, the results are less effective. O’Flynn posits Green Oaks as a symbol for the excesses of consumerism, but she doesn’t have anything new to say about the issue. Usually, her efforts to tie the loneliness of her characters to the growth of the mall are unconvincing. What Was Lost works best when it focuses on the small moments, not big themes.