Impulse by Frederick Ramsay

Frank Smith, famed writer of murder mysteries, is attending his 50th class reunion at Scott Academy. Twenty-five years ago at Scott, a group of young boys walked from the campus into the woods -- and disappeared. Frank is asked to look into the now long cold mystery. While Frank is in Baltimore investigating the disappearance of the boys, Detective Ledezma is in Arizona investigating the highly suspicious disappearance of Frank's wife into apparent thin air four years ago. Officer Ledezma is convinced that Smith has killed her and buried the body.

Ultimately, the story proved to be interesting but it took me the first third of the book to actually get into it. The main character, Frank, is not very likable early in the book. He has confrontations with his daughter who, though suspicious as to Frank's involvement in her mother's disappearance, wants a large favor from Frank. He also has run-ins with the school and his former classmates over their treatment of his brother and his own history at the school. The school administration is scheming to get Frank to leave a large "gift" to the school. Detective Ledezma is running a lazy - almost inept - investigation into Frank's wife's disappearance. Once Frank's investigation into the boys' disappearance begins, the story gets much better and I warmed up to Frank a bit more.

Rating: 3.75