Bunny Lake Is Missing is a psychological suspense thriller that really delivers!
Its simple premise, and strait-forward 24hr timeline, reels you in like you are being bound to Blanche with a tightening cord. This was turned into a 1965 film starring Laurence Olivier, Carol Lynley and Keir Dullea - which departs from the novel in many ways I didn't find as effective. Author Evelyn Piper (a pseudonym of Merriam Modell) has constructed a taut classic, the level of tension reminding me most of William Goldman's classic Marathon Man.
It's that good.
21 year-old Blanche is so newly arrived in New York that her belongings haven't fully arrived to her apartment. All she knows about the school is from the brochure, really. 'Bunny' is three and ready to join the other kids where she will be safe and happy. Blanche drops her daughter off at the nursery, chatting with other reassuring mothers, and continues her day. After school, all the children pour out - except Bunny. The mothers didn't see her, the teachers have never seen her, indeed the Principal finds that Bunny is not even registered. There is no trace of her. The police are called and she is interviewed in her apartment - where there is no trace of children belongings. The movers haven't delivered them yet. Being a single mom, she relies on her mother - who no one can get a hold of. Distraught, Blanche begins retracing her steps in the neighbourhood looking for people who may remember her daughter. Could the grocer's son who was always staring at Blanche be involved? Could Blanche be imagining things? Was there ever a girl named Bunny?
Throughout the night she is followed and aided by an interested policeman; they walk the empty night streets looking for answers. Blanche is not having a breakdown, because we readers were there with her when she dropped Bunny off, so... The author skillfully blends facts into fantasies until we start to doubt Blanche. Not openly, of course, we are all still trying to help find Bunny, but secretly, we just met Blanche so, maybe she isn't as stable as we thought. What do we really know about her?
This takes just one night to resolve, the tension rising to a very satisfying resolution at the right time. She does a remarkable job wracking the nerves, presenting Blanche's motherly tenacity, as well as perhaps her instability - hard to put down.
Evelyn Piper wrote several other novels, notably The Nanny in 1964, which was made into a film starring Bette Davis the following year. The film of Bunny Lake moved the setting to London and changed the ending (so if you think you know the story from watching the film, you don't).
Bunny Lake was made into a stage play in 2012.
And as a side note: my Dell paperback copy published in 1965 looked completely clean and intact, no loose or worn pages, most likely previously unread... I'm reading along, unable to break away from the mounting suspense, when after page 176, the next page was 33! The section of pages 33 to 43 were repeated, and the story picked up again at page 193! I lost the plot from page 176 to 193, but it was easily picked up and didn't affect the outcome - but it was a shock! This must have been a mistake while printing - and not just in mine, there must be a whole run of defective copies out there.
I always check that the last page of an old paperback is there, they sometimes loosen and fall out over time, but I don't think to check in the middle of a novel!
1957 / Paperback / 222 pages
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