All the secrets of the world A novel

Fiction writer and essayist Almond (Bad Stories: What Just Happened to Our Country) stuffs his debut novel with a lurid if convoluted story of teen friendship and crime in the Reagan era. In 1981, 13-year-old Lorena Saenz, a Sacramento eighth grader with a passion for learning, is partnered by her teacher with Jenny Stallworth for a science fair project. Lorena, who is being raised by a single mother from Honduras with modest means, becomes friendly with Jenny's wealthy parents, who include her in family meals and take her camping. Then, Jenny's father, Marcus, falsely accuses Lorena of trying to hit on him before inappropriately embracing her, an encounter witnessed by Lorena's older brother, Tony. His hostile response makes him the prime suspect after Marcus vanishes and is believed to have been murdered. Because Jenny's mom knows Nancy Reagan slightly, she improbably manages to get the first lady, still traumatized by the attempted assassination of her husband, to try to prioritize the investigation ("The ghostly currents of political power run through the grid of law enforcement," Almond writes). The truth about Marcus is a yawner, and whatever deeper message Almond tried to imbue is lost in the outlandish plotting. The author's fans will have fun with this Day-Glo rendering of the early '80s, but in the end it falls short. Agent: Jenni Ferrari-Adler, Union Literary. (Apr.)

A disappearance brings together a host of disparate lives in early-1980s California. This novel, Almond's first, follows a number of acclaimed story collections and works of nonfiction. He's opted to use the biggest possible canvas, incorporating a diverse cast of characters and a host of weighty themes. The resulting novel is incredibly ambitious while also featuring some unexpected touches--scorpion biology and Nancy Reagan both play significant roles. The bulk of the novel is set in California in 1981. Lorena Saenz, age 13, is partnered with classmate Jenny Stallworth for a science fair project. Lorena is the daughter of an undocumented mother and comes from a working-class background; Jenny's family, by contrast, is wealthy. More ominously, Jenny's father, Marcus--a scientist and academic with an interest in scorpions--develops an attraction to Lorena. Almond summons plenty of tension from the question of whether or not Marcus will do something awful--right up until the point when he vanishes under mysterious circumstances and Lorena's older brother, Tony, becomes a suspect in his disappearance. It's at this point that Pedro Guerrero, one of the police officers investigating the case, enters the narrative, expanding its scope beyond the two families of the early chapters. Almond is grappling with a lot of weighty themes: Class disparities, sexual abuse, corrupt policing, immigration, and the modern Republican Party (including a couple of references to the Romney family) all play significant parts here. But while the large-scale tragedy that plays out is thought-provoking, the novel's stranger digressions--like glowing scorpions--are what endure. Almond's first novel is ambitious and empathic but sometimes unwieldy. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.