Missing Persons (Dr. Alan Gregory Novels)

A good, interesting read. Well paced, well written, enjoyable. Enough so that I’ll be looking to pick up the rest of the series, maybe start from the beginning this time, lol.

Stephen White writes a nice, middle-of-the-road thriller. Scary, but not too scary. Decently written, if not inspired. His hero, Alan Gregory, is a nice, middle-of-the-road psychologist living in Boulder, Colorado with his nice prosecutor wife, their adorable daughter, and two fabulous dogs.

Dr Gregory, in addition to his private practice, is a consultant to the Boulder Police Department, and--as is so often the case with amateur sleuths--seems to find more than his share of dead bodies. Missing Persons opens with the discovery of a dead body--that of Gregory's colleague, psychiatrist Hannah Grant. The search to determine the cause of her death is closely linked to another search, for a missing teen age girl, a girl who is the same age show more as Jonbenet Ramsey--or, as she's rather coyly referred to throughout the novel, "the little beauty queen" or "the other girl"--would have been had she lived.

Shit happens. There are crazy people, a jaunt to Vegas, and, as usual, Alan Gregory spends an inordinate amount of time explaining confidentiality and how important it is to the doctor patient relationship and then dithering about whether it would be appropriate to betray it in this particular case.

I've always rather looked forward to Stephen White's novels, as they go down easily and leave no unpleasant aftertaste. And so, when I found this one as I was test-driving my new libary card, I picked it up, read a few pages and, since they rang no bells in my memory, checked it out. Now, here's how middle-of-the-road Mr White's work is: it wasn't until the climax of the novel--literally, until the perpetrator was unveiled--that I realized I had read this one already. Unpleasant aftertaste? This left no taste whatsover!

I'm rethinking my fondness for Stephen White at the moment. Reading time is short enough that I think long and hard before rereading something truly meaningful, so to spend two days rereading something that made so little impression I can't even remember reading it...well, I think I need to switch from white to wheat. show less

Boulder, CO, psychologist Alan Gregory has more missing persons than he can handle. After he and his colleague Diane find a friend and co-worker dead they realize that her death might be connected to the disappearance of a 14-year old girl. Diane tracks down the missing girl's mother in Las Vegas but Diane herself seems to vanish from a Nevada casino. Alan, fearing that Diane is in great danger, investigates the missing teen but when he realizes that one of his patients has knowledge of the young girl he knows that his doctor/patient privilege cannot be violated and he will not be able to tell the police what he has learned. Alan's patient is now nowhere to be found and the frustrated doctor has no clue where to find any of these show more people.

This is one of the most intricately developed mysteries I have ever come across. At times some of the clues seem a bit thin but I enjoyed all of the interplay nonetheless. Author White can really set the reader up for great surprises along with some red herrings thrown in for good measure. I have enjoyed all of White's books so far and will continue with the series in the future. show less

Missing Persons grabs you with several mysteries at once, and though at times chapters seem to be out of place it is a good read. It however has an ending that ties everything together nicely, which doesn’t seem to follow the rest of the flow of the book.

I think I listened to this book before, [Dick Hill, narrating]. I think I've listened to all of the Alan Gregory series with its shocking conclusion. Reading the books again keeping in mind the conclusions is what makes the re-read not a rehash of what I know already. It also reminds me of how like real life the story line ran. Stephen White is an excellent story-teller. Another reason I read the series is to listen in on the secrets of male friendship. White does that well too.

I liked the story too. The more it went on the more people went missing. By the last few chapters you really became worried about who would go missing next.

I was pretty pleased with this book. Had never read anything by Stephen White, but I was not disappointed. A story of murder and kidnapping in Boulder, Colorado. I love books that don't end how you are expecting and this was one of those books. I can't wait to read more by this author.

In Missing Persons, Dr. Alan Gregory is investigating a missing persons case, hence the title. Meanwhile, a woman is killed in his colleague's office. Later, this same colleague goes missing. All of this makes for a convoluted story that is at times hard to follow. Gregory is continually conflicted about disclosing patient information as he tries to help find the girl and his colleague. The book failed to hold my interest in its entirety. As the story progressed, I found it to be continually harder to follow, and I also found myself not trying very hard to follow it. I've read other novels by Stephen White, and I don't find him to be an effective or engaging story teller. I would pass on this novel.
Carl Alves - author of Two For Eternity