It seems like every other week a mass shooting happens. It’s always devastating, but people often take to social media to air their grievances, usually blaming the government for their lax gun control laws, the mental health system or even the parents of the victim. However, Bryan Reardon’s novel, Finding Jake, examines another side of mass shootings, showing how parents can sometimes be the victims.
The story is told from the perspective of Simon Connolly, a stay-at-home father. It starts with the birth of his son, Jake, and continues through Jake’s childhood and into his high school years. Jake has always been a somewhat odd child, usually keeping to himself and rarely bringing friends home from school. Moments that Simon shares with the reader are largely endearing until the day that a shooting happens at Jake’s school, and Jake himself is missing. He immediately becomes the top suspect as both the police and his parents work tirelessly to find him, the police searching for a dangerous armed shooter while his parents search for their innocent and possibly injured child.
Finding Jake demonstrates just how much our personal experiences can skew our reactions to a situation. In the aftermath of the shooting, every parent who lost a child refuses to give up until justice is served. They harass Jake’s parents, blaming them for the death of their children without any evidence that Jake is the one who shot the children. Journalists are desperate for a story and stake out Jake’s home. They stalk his parents and his little sister, all of whom know far less than everyone seems to think.
Reardon paints a vivid picture of Jake through stories that his father tells, leading the reader to doubt what everyone says about him. At the same time, the police have brought forward incriminating evidence against Jake, and it’s not until the end of the novel that the reader finds out whether he is innocent.
Despite its short length, the book is far from a light read. It’s both heartbreaking and compelling. In addition, the novel may bear Jake’s name, but it’s more about Simon and how he deals with the tragedy. Reardon teaches the reader that our own biases often cloud our judgment of a situation, even when we’re meant to be impartial.