[The Disappearance] is a combination of a Black "street boy's" refluctant acceptance into a Black middle-class family's life and the suspense of an eight-year-old girl's disappearance…. There are some soft points: surely the police spend more time and effort searching for lost Black girls than is indicated here, and the Aimsley family seems to accept Perk's disappearance a bit too readily. Some readers might have difficulty with the Black and West Indian speech; others may not appreciate the "down" ending. But, by story's close, each character has touched us and the fine delineation of all of them stands out as Guy's greatest strength.