Mathieu, Jennifer. Afterward. Macmillan/Roaring Brook Press 2016
310p $17.99 ISBN 978-1-62672-238-5 hs/adult Realistic
fiction E-BN
What a powerful topic
Jennifer Mathieu has taken on in her new novel.
“Edgy” is just one of the descriptive words one could use to describe
the plot. As in her novel Devoted,
in which she did a stellar job with the topic of oppression of females by a
religion in the deep South, this time she attacks the topic of child abduction
and its aftermath. Indeed, it is beyond
traumatic for a normal boy to be abducted; this time, another boy is taken by
the same kidnapper, and he is autistic. When
both boys are recovered alive, Ethan Jorgenson can be helped by therapy. But how does one help a child with autism who
is largely nonverbal? It is difficult,
to say the least, and the reader is not surprised when the parents of the young
autistic boy split. The strain of
raising a child with autism is enough to put any marriage out of
commission. When that same child is
abducted and then recovered alive, and tries to make sense out of what happened
to him, it is devastating to his family.
Dylan’s sister Caroline approaches Ethan to try to find out what “damn,
cake” means. These words, uttered by her
brother in times of stress, must mean something. Caroline’s hope is that Ethan will be able to
help her as she tries to understand what her brother experienced at the hands
of a kidnapper and sexual predator. As
he explains to Caroline, Ethan’s memory is sketchy. He has so much to cope with after his
return: media, questions about why he
did not try to escape during his four years in captivity, lack of schooling,
nightmares, distrust issues with his new psychiatrist, and quandaries about how
to resume friendships and create new ones.
Music brings Caroline and Ethan together, and as odd as their new
friendship may seem to others, they bring solace to each other, until Ethan
recalls something that puts that friendship at risk. Readers new to Mathieu will find her to be a
powerful storyteller who is not afraid to tackle more mature topics. Established fans will be drawn into this new
book quickly, and they will read it voraciously from cover to cover.
Summary: No one has forgotten
about the abduction of Ethan Jorgenson. When eleven-year-old Dylan Anderson
goes missing from the same town, the search for the missing boys ends when a
pick-up truck matching the description of the abductor’s is seen. In this novel, what happens during the
aftermath of such a heinous crime is described in realistically disturbing
detail.
Kidnapping-Fiction,
Autism-Fiction —Martha
Squaresky
