Bad Man

Bad Manby Dathan Auerbach

Ben is 15 years old when he is at the grocery store with his younger 3-year old brother Eric.  Ben looks away briefly and Eric disappears.  

It is five years forward and Ben is haunted by that day.  He misses his brother and keeps looking for him.  His stepmother is depressed and only leaves the house once a year to go and get a birthday present for Eric, to sadly stack in his room.  

Ben finds a job at the grocery store where Eric disappeared.  The family does need the money, though his parent's tell him to work somewhere else, anywhere else and that they will be okay.  

This one did not end how I would have liked it too.  I so wanted Ben and Eric to be back together and to have a happy ending.  I should have known this book wasn't going to go there.

It did go into a nice depth of the devastation the family is going through when Eric goes missing.  The whole family is devastated and they desperately want Eric back.  Ben feels guilty, what if he hadn't looked away, what if that day had turned out different?  It also comments how people around town didn't pay any attention to the missing person flyers.  And that is true.  How often do we all just walk by those posters without a second glance.  That alone is something to think about.