Open Books Challenge 2026: About a Missing Person or Object

The Open Books Reading Challenge is a year-long reading challenge for people interested in pushing the boundaries of their reading. For full details of the program, please check-out our page at: https://www.rplmn.org/books-more/discover-more/open-books-reading-challenge

These are some ideas that fit the 2026 category "About a missing person or object."

Happy Reading!

Updated December 31, 2025
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The boy from the woods
Coben, Harlan
Paper Book
A man with a mysterious past must find a missing teenage girl in this shocking thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Run Away. Thirty years ago, Wilde was found as a boy living feral in the woods, with no memory of his past....
The last thing he told me : a novel
Dave, Laura
Paper Book
A Goodreads Top 60 Book of the Last 5 Years Don't miss the #1 New York Times bestselling blockbuster and Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick that's sold 5 million copies strong--now an Apple TV+ limited series starring Jennifer Garner! The "page-turning,...
Wicked appetite
Evanovich, Janet
CD
Life in Marblehead has had a pleasant predictability, until Diesel arrives. Rumor has it that a collection of priceless ancient relics representing the Seven Deadly Sins have made their way to Boston's North Shore. Partnered with pastry chef Lizzie Tucker, Diesel bullies and charms his way through...
Gone girl
Flynn, Gillian
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The "mercilessly entertaining" (Vanity Fair) instant classic "about the nature of identity and the terrible secrets that can survive and thrive in even the most intimate relationships" (Lev Grossman, Time "One of the Best Books of the Decade")...
Find her : a novel
Gardner, Lisa
Paper Book
Flora Dane is a victim.  Seven years ago, carefree college student Flora was kidnapped while on spring break. For 472 days, Flora learned just how much one person can endure. Flora Dane is a survivor. Miraculously alive after her ordeal, Flora has...
InvestiGators
Green, John Patrick
Paper Book
"When I'm faced with a Pilkey fan looking to branch out, this graphic novel is the first book I reach for... If eight books aren't enough, the spinoff series, Agents of S.U.I.T., continues the fun." ―The New York Times With more than four million copies in...
The overnight guest
Gudenkauf, Heather
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Fully realized, wholly absorbing and almost painfully suspenseful...The journey is mesmerizing." --New York Times A woman receives an unexpected visitor during a deadly snowstorm in this chilling thriller from ...
The deceivers
Haddix, Margaret Peterson
Paper Book
The second book in the Greystone Secrets series from the master of plot twists, Margaret Peterson Haddix--perfect for fans of A Wrinkle in Time and The City of Ember!  Until their mother vanished, the Greystone kids--Chess, Emma, and Finn--knew nothing about the other world. ...
The lost man
Harper, Jane
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "I love Jane Harper's Australia-based mysteries." --Stephen King Two brothers meet in the remote Australian outback when the third brother is found dead, in this stunning new standalone novel from Jane Harper...
Secret Book of Flora Lea
Callahan Henry, Patti.
Paper Book
From the New York Times bestselling author of Becoming Mrs. Lewis comes a "heartrending, captivating tale of family, first love, and fate" (Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author) about a woman who stumbles across a mysterious children's book that holds secrets...
The return of Ellie Black : a novel
Jean, Emiko
Paper Book
A USA TODAY Bestseller | An NPR Best Book of 2024 | A Goodreads Best Thriller of 2024 In this "page-turning suspense novel, shrewd character study, and captivating mystery" (Stephen King) Detective Chelsey Calhoun's life is turned upside down when she gets the...
Then she was gone : a novel
Jewell, Lisa.
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Nominated for a 2018 Goodreads Choice Award "An acutely observed family drama with bone-chilling suspense." --People "Jewell teases out her twisty plot at just the right pace, leaving...
Four past midnight
King, Stephen
Paper Book
Jet passengers are stuck in a time-slip, a psychopath accuses a writer of plagiarism, a man with an overdue book encounters a demonic librarian, and a boy's camera snaps photos of a huge and nasty dog in these four horror novellas. Repackaged. Reissue.
Trail of the lost : the relentless search to bring home the missing hikers of the Pacific Crest Trail
Lankford, Andrea
Paper Book
From an award-winning former law enforcement park ranger and investigator, this female-driven true crime adventure follows the author's quest to find missing hikers along the Pacific Crest Trail by pairing up with an eclectic group of unlikely allies.  ​  
Just another missing person
McAllister, Gillian
Paper Book
"Twisty and complex, with unexpected turns...and characters you really root for."--Emily Henry, #1 New York Times bestselling author From the author of the Reese's Book Club Pick and the New York Times bestseller Wrong Place Wrong Time comes a new heart-stopping thriller in which...
The quiet tenant
Michallon, Cle?mence
Paper Book
NATIONAL BEST SELLER * A NEW YORK TIMES BEST CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR * GMA BUZZ PICK * "A bravura feat of storytelling...daring and completely satisfying." --James Patterson, #1 best-selling author A PULSE-POUNDING PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER ABOUT A SERIAL KILLER NARRATED BY THOSE...
All the missing girls : a novel
Miranda, Megan
Paper Book
***A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*** A New York Times Book Review "Editors' Choice" Entertainment Weekly -- Thriller Round-Up The Wall Street Journal -- 5 Killer Books Hollywood Reporter -- Hot Summer Books...16 Must Reads
The god of the woods
Moore, Liz
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER and ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES'S NOTABLE BOOKS OF THE YEAR A NEW YORK TIMES "BEST THRILLER" and "BEST CRIME NOVEL" OF THE YEAR PEOPLE MAGAZINE'S #1 BOOK OF THE YEAR "Extraordinary . . ....
The impossible fortune
Osman, Richard
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The unmissable new mystery in the Thursday Murder Club series from bestselling author Richard Osman, now streaming on Netflix Who's got time to think about murder when there's a wedding to plan? It's been a quiet year for the...
The president is missing
Patterson, James
Paper Book
Don't miss the #1 New York Times bestselling thriller from the world's bestselling author, James Patterson: an "undeniably gripping ride through the hidden passageways of power and politics" that "moves like Air Force One" (Michael Connelly). The...
Three women disappear
Patterson, James
Paper Book
Sarah, his personal chef. Anna, his wife. Serena, his maid. All three had access to a murder victim's home. And all three women are missing.  Sarah, his personal chef Anna, his wife Serena, his maid Accountant Anthony Costello has...
Song for the Dark Times
Rankin, Ian
Paper Book
Middle of the night : a novel
Sager, Riley
Paper Book
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In the latest jaw-dropping thriller from New York Times bestselling author Riley Sager, a man must contend with the long-ago disappearance of his childhood best friend--and the dark secrets lurking just beyond the safe confines...
The lovely bones
Sebold, Alice.
Paper Book
"My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973." So begins the story of Susie Salmon, who is adjusting to her new home in heaven, a place that is not at all what she expected, even as she is watching life on earth continue...
Where'd you go, Bernadette : a novel
Semple, Maria.
Paper Book
A misanthropic matriarch leaves her eccentric family in crisis when she mysteriously disappears in this "whip-smart and divinely funny" novel that inspired the movie starring Cate Blanchett (New York Times). Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's...
Still missing
Stevens, Chevy.
Paper Book
On the day she was abducted, Annie O'Sullivan, a thirty-two year old realtor, had three goals--sell a house, forget about a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner with her ever- patient boyfriend. The open house is slow, but when her last visitor pulls up in a van...
All the colors of the dark : a novel
Whitaker, Chris
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD * From the author of We Begin at the End comes a soaring thriller and an epic love story that "hits like a sledgehammer . . . an absolutely must-read novel" (Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl). Read...
Gone before goodbye
Witherspoon, Reese
Paper Book
AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER  An unforgettable suspense novel that combines the storytelling talents of Academy Award-winning actor Reese Witherspoon and internationally bestselling author Harlan Coben. Gone Before Goodbye...

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