Have You Seen Him by Kimberly Lee – Greatness from small beginnings

David sees his face looking back at him. Him. But not him. The features are skewed, giving a rough approximation of what a computer would think he might look like twenty-five years on from his own disappearance.

The name of the boy is Leonard. Leonard Goodwin. The “Goodwin” is familiar; “Leonard” is not. The surname adopted when he was, “Byrdsong” was missing. Just as the ad claimed he, himself, was.

Glancing at the Missing Persons poster would alter the course of David Byrdsong’s life. A mountain of coincidences, stacked haphazardly, becomes impossible to ignore when they threaten to crush him beneath them at their eventual collapse.

Spoiler-Free Plot

Gayle regards the poster with more seriousness than David does, a common theme in their lacklustre, years-long relationship. Her best friend, colleague, and confidant has repeatedly voiced her opinions of her boyfriend: unimpressive, unambitious, non-committal. In short, Gayle could do a lot better.

Confirmed by strangers, family, and acquaintances alike from their automatic assumptions that she dumped him following a fight where David chased her and her newly cemented accomplice out of his office.

Alejandro lacks direction. Cycling through tedious jobs leading nowhere, least of all a skilled career. A handful of minutes into his SPM induction, reporting a change on the computer monitor before him puts Alejandro on the right track with his new employers.

However, a nagging suspicion of conspiracy drives him towards a more independent investigative approach. He grasps the lead tightly. It gives him something to firmly hold on to. Something to remind him of himself, his perseverance, and what exactly he is capable of achieving in the hopes that uncovering this mystery will reconcile where he fell short in the past.

To Hersh Byrdsong, David was his one and only child. Regina considered him her son, too, despite his reluctance to absorb them into his life as they had theirs. He always had one foot out of the ring, hoping to find the people he so wished to belong to. Hersh knows he would stop at nothing to ensure his son’s safety whilst maintaining his own anonymity.

As David tries to unearth his identity, Hersh is desperate to keep his a secret.

My Take on Have You Seen Him

Taken as it is, this book is a story about a man with a complicated past. A man with a unique genetic anomaly that grants him immunity to virtually all illnesses on the planet. No colds, no flus, no viruses or infections. Naturally, a villainous bio-medical company throws every effort into finding a way to profit out of this discovery. Making a science experiment out of a young boy and his mother.

The premise is thrilling enough on its own. The exceptional writing goes above and beyond in its effort to capture and maintain readers’ attention. Paragraphs and chapters alike are polished off with just as much command over the language and plot as they are in their beginnings and middles, too. Orientation during action scenes—and this is a personal pet peeve of mine that frustrates me to no end when handled poorly—puts readers right in the midst of the scene, alongside the characters, through the vivid description of objects, action, and the world in motion.

Beneath all of that, there is a second story spun into the bones of the first. Stories inspired by Henrietta Lacks, Juan Rayford Junior, and millions of other individuals. It isn’t an overt expression, but the evidence tucked into what most would view as factors integral to the genre means something else completely to those whose discernment leads them to unveil the true implications.

It’s in the opacity of details surrounding Alejandro’s arrest, SPM’s exorbitant spending, and the efforts put into finding Leonard, being an unusual response to a missing child stretching beyond the fact of his being a medical anomaly, Gayle’s frugality in the classroom taking on dual meaning based on the school’s namesake, all of it.

Kimberly Lee also managed to give thematic significance to what was intended to be a red herring with Hersh’s wariness of law enforcement. It’s an anamorphosis of the black, specifically, the African American experience.

To me, this studied choice gives the story the beauty of becoming whatever the reader wishes it to be: an exciting and entertaining thriller/suspense book, or a powerful piece of social commentary delivered via a fictional story.

Kimberly Lee has mastered the art of subtlety. Her words deliver a message beyond themselves. Implicit meaning is sandwiched between layers of mystery and pulse-raising action in this book—take a bite.

Age Rating

15 years and above

Content Warnings

Death, Foul Language, Violence.

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