[In "The Disappearance"] Rosa Guy has taken a plot and turned the people inside out to give us both a cliff-hanger and a shrewd commentary on human nature….

The question is bound to be asked: Is this book, with its overtones of violence and sex, really intended for young readers 12 and up? In a way, the answer is the book's theme. Innocence is not beautiful, Miss Guy says. Behind lace curtains on pretty streets, ugly things happen, just as they do in Harlem. And perhaps the so-called disadvantaged have the advantage after all, for they already understand that. Certainly all readers will be riveted by the suspense in this story, but it may be that only those older than 12 will understand the message.

Jean Fritz, in her review of "The Disappearance," in The New York Times Book Review (© 1979 by The New York Times Company; reprinted by permission), December...