The Lost Boys of Barlowe Theater by Jaime Jo Wright

The Lost Boys of Barlowe Theater by Jaime Jo Wright
Series:  A standalone
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers (October 10, 2023)

Review by Mae Clair

Jaime Jo Wright is one of my auto-buy authors, so I pre-ordered The Lost Boys of Barlowe Theater the moment it became available. I loved the cover so much, I bought both the Kindle and the paperback, so I could add the PB to the collection of Wright tales on my bookshelf.

In this dual time-line mystery, Wright crosses storylines between 1915 when the Barlow Theater is the height of elegance and prestige in Kipper’s Grove, Wisconsin, and the present when the historical theater is in the crosshairs of a wealthy developer for destruction.

Kit Boyd is friends with the developer’s granddaughter, Madison, who ropes her into tagging along during a ghost walk of the old theater. Madison has opened the theater to a reality show that employs a skeptic and medium as opposing hosts. The situation is designed to draw attention to the theater and prevent its demolition, but Madison disappears during the ghost walk. Even the police are flummoxed by how she could simply “vanish” from the basement of the old building. Soon after, Kit—who was against the TV show from the start—finds her property and car vandalized, and herself a target of a botched assault.

In the past timeline, Greta Mercy struggles to provide for her three younger brothers (her parents are gone and her older brother was killed in an accident while working construction on the Barlowe Theater). A wealthy friend invites her to a performance at the theater, where Greta witnesses a woman in white hurl a baby from an upper balcony. No one else sees the incident, and the woman and child are never found. Hysteria results, and the theater is cleared, resulting in a huge loss for the prominent Mr. Barlowe, who owns the place. The next morning Greta learns her younger brother—along with two other boys—have vanished overnight, supposedly while snooping inside the theater.

Chapters move back and forth in time, alternating POV between Greta and Kit. If it seems like there is a lot going on in this book, it reads oddly slow for the first half (hence my deduction of half a fish). Or maybe that was just my wanting to spur it past Greta’s relocation to a poor house. Like Kit, she finds herself ensnared in scenarios beyond her control.

Wright does an excellent job of crafting the atmosphere of the early twentieth century, including the disparity between class. The issue of faith and the supernatural is addressed— especially in the present—where Kit, a Christian, grapples with the concept of a medium communicating with the spirit world. I don’t want to say how everything plays out, but Christian readers will not find fault.

In the snippet below, the medium on the TV show (Heather) is explaining what she saw during a visit to the theater:

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“There’s a woman…” Heather took a deep, controlled breath. “She is dressed in a white evening dress.”

“From what time period?” Tom asked. It seemed it was part of his job to inquire because Heather answered immediately and without irritation.

“I think the late eighteen hundreds? Or early turn of the century maybe? It’s long, sweeping, narrow at the waist, and fairly straight down in the skirt. I’m going to guess probably 1910, 1915? She says she’s ‘the woman in white.’”

The Lost Boys of Barlow Theater, Jaime Jo Wright

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As in all of Wright’s books, there is also a light attraction theme for both ladies with men in their respective timelines. While I can’t say this is my favorite Jaime Jo Wright novel, it is an engrossing mystery that gains true momentum in the second half, where layer upon layer of plot threads begin to spin together in unexpected ways. For readers who enjoy dual timelines, especially those layered with historical elements and intricate genealogies, I recommend The Lost Boys of Barlow Theater as well-written, entertaining fiction and give it 4.5 well deserved fish!

I purchased the Kindle and the paperback version of The Lost Boys of Barlowe Theater