The Missing

by Thomas Eidson

Book Overview

The year is 1886 and old Samuel Jones, broken in body and soul, has ridden hard to reach his daughter's remote New Mexico ranch--ridden hard so that he can die there. But Maggie Baldwin, grown and with children of her own, wants nothing to do with this man who abandoned her and her mother thirty years earlier to live with the Indians. Nothing, that is, until renegade Apaches shoot Maggie's husband and kidnap her oldest daughter. Then she has no choice...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812972384
• ISBN13: 9780812972382
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: Random House Trade
• Length: 299 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

The Last Ride

The server was quick 3 days as stated. The book condition is like new with library marks. I am very satisfied with the transaction and book.

A western, yet not an old western

Originally published as The Last Ride, this was made into a movie with this new title. A "western", yet not an "old western". This novel examines a father-daughter relationship with the setting in the uncivilized West. It carefully examines the overall role of women in the West; carefully because of the subtlety of how it accomplishes this. Maggie is a heroine for all time. The novel also builds an understanding of the native Indian cultural ways for the reader. Enjoy!

Don't miss this compelling read

Previously titled The Last Ride, this is the basis for the new Ron Howard film. The novel of family, a search for faith and courage, is a page turner that will stay with you. Grab it.

Deeply Moving

I was moved to laughter and tears by this heartwarming and heartwrenching story of a dying old man who pushes himself to the limit to be reunited with his daughter and save his granddaughter from her Apache kidnappers. I was captivated right from the first page to the last, caring deeply about the characters and their predicament.

Excellent characters described so well they come to life.

Tom Eidson introduces and develops two main characters in this book which even though related could not be farther apart. The struggle of a dyeing father seeking reconciliation with the daughter he abandoned as a child is the plot around which a very vivid story is built. Each character is described and developed so well that as events take place in the book one can picture the characters and the effect of the situation on them. While having different religious and moral beliefs, Samuel (Father) and Maggie (Daughter)are bound together in a quest to free Maggie's own daughter from renegade apaches hoping to sell her and other women into slavery in Mexico. As the story develops, each characters beliefs are tested openly and in the end there is no right or wrong beliefs, just an understanding of the similarities between the two. While the plot and story line are common, the characters and the detail given to developing them set this book apart and make it worth reading.