Teddy doesn't know that when he answers the phone that his whole life will change. He is told hat his son is missing and he begins a journey to find his son. Secrets will be revealed and multiple crimes committed as Teddy works to protect his son, a young man struggling with substance abuse and trying to find himself. This book is full of intrigue and drama. It will keep you guessing until the very end. ( )

Jesse is a troubled teen who has a drug problem. His adoptive father Teddy often questions himself. He feels that Jesse's adoptive mother, Molly, was a better parent. A tragic accident took Molly's life. Not long after this event Jesse started getting into more trouble. Teddy, not sure how to handle all of this, sends Jesse to a Wilderness retreat in the hopes that he will sober up. Jesse escapes from the treatment center and Teddy begins a desperate search to find his son. When Teddy finally tracks Jesse down, they go on a wild, crazy, dangerous adventure and begin to understand each other and themselves.

Anyone who has ever experienced unconditional love for someone less than perfect should read this book. I truly hope Gary plans on writing many more novels. I've added him to the "author's who I have to have all of their books" list. ( )

Synopsis:
Teddy Mentor is woken up in the middle of the night by a call from the Montana wilderness program informing him that his 16 year old adopted son, Jesse, has run away. Jesse had just begun the court mandated substance abuse program and no one knows where he might have gone.

Mentor has his own problems. Divorced and widowed by Jesse's mother, Mentor is barely getting by in his PR job in NY. But Mentor leaves his Brooklyn apartment and heads to Montana to find Jesse. Checking all leads, skulking after drug dealers, getting thrown in jail, and constantly searching, Mentor eventually runs into Jesse at an isolated bus station. In an effort to bond with his son, Mentor agrees to drive Jesse to meet a girl in Kentucky. Jesse's girl is in an abusive relationship and somehow Mentor finds himself on the run with Jesse and Theresa.

Review:
The strength and complexity of parental love was one of the dominant themes in Jesse's Girl. While I'm not knowledgeable about adoption, addiction or spousal abuse, all of which permeate and shape the story, but I was engrossed by how these complex issues drove the characters. I wasn't drawn to any of the main characters and was frustrated by Jesse, but I found myself involved and interested in their shared journey. While it differed from my usual read, I found Jesse's Girl engrossing, difficult to put down.

This was my first Gary Morgenstein novel, and hadn't known what to expect. The author and his main character live in my neighborhood in Brooklyn, and this made the work of particular personal interest as well. The strength of his writing and narrative encourage me to look for his other books.

Warning: The book contains adult subject matter and strong language. ( )

Startled awake by a ringing phone in the middle of the night, Brooklynite Teddy Mentor finds out that his sixteen year old adopted son Jesse is missing from the Rehabilitation Program in Montana, where he had been sent 2 weeks ago. Teddy risking his job and his meager life savings flies to Montana to track Jesse down. Once in Montana he learns that Jesse has left by bus and Teddy's route takes him to Illinois where finally the two of them meet up. Jesse, whose past substance abuse and other problems have made the relationship between him and his stepfather strained, was secretly glad to see Teddy. Together, Teddy and Jesse embark on a mission.

Jesse left the Rehab Center to find a girl in Kentucky that he was in contact with. This girl claimed to be Jesse's sister, Theresa. They find Theresa living in a trailer in Mount Sterling, KY...with an abusive brother, Beau. Then the unthinkable happens - Beau beats Theresa and Jesse during a drunken heated argument. Jesse grabs a knife and stabs Beau, killing him. Or so he thinks.

Buckle your skates, folks because you are in for quite a rollercoaster ride.

Jesse's Girl is not only a fast-paced-nail-biting-thriller, but a testimony of how a father and his adopted son mend their broken relationship and come to realize that all that they really have is each other. ( )

I received Jesse’s Girl by Gary Morgenstein for review yesterday. While I was intrigued, I wasn’t particularly hopeful that it was going to be much of a page-turner. Was I ever wrong. I really got into the story from the very beginning. As I come from a family that has had its own issues with addiction and chemical dependence, it is possible that I was able to better relate to the characters in this novel, thus making it more real to me.

The premise of the book centers on Teddy Mentor and his sixteen year old adopted son, Jesse. Jesse has been sent away to a wilderness program in rural Montana in a last ditch effort to put an end to the drug problems that have plagued him for years. The problems escalated after the death of his adopted mother (and Teddy’s soon to be ex wife), and had reached a point where Teddy had to admit he was incapable of controlling or protecting his child. With nowhere else to turn, he entrusts his only child to the professionals at the Mountain Wilderness Center.

Big mistake. Not two weeks later he gets a 1AM phone call. His son is missing. Risking his job, he books a flight away from Brooklyn and towards his son. After a couple days of searching, he gets the break he needs and tracks his son to a bus stop in Illinois, en route to Kentucky to meet his long-lost birth sister (whom Jesse leads Teddy to believe is his long-distance girlfriend). Jesse swears up and down that he is done with the drugs; in that convincing way all users seem to have. However, it isn’t long before Teddy notices that he is missing some of his antidepressants and that his son occasionally reeks of beer. Jesse’s lies come to a head when he OD’s on heroin in the middle of the night while sharing a hotel room with his dad.

Torn between institutionalizing Jesse for his own good and joining him on his trek to meet his ‘girlfriend’, Teddy relents and the two continue on to Kentucky. When they arrive at Theresa’s, they are introduced to her ‘brother’ Beau. Beau is actually Theresa’s abusive husband, and within a few hours he and Jesse get into a particularly brutal altercation that ends with Jesse stabbing him. This unintentional act of violence spurs a run from the law that leads Teddy and Jesse into the heart of Jesse’s birth family. It also forces the two to address the issues that have destroyed their relationship.

Jesse’s Girl was a very unexpected read. I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end. Not only was it an emotional family drama, it was also full of action and even (a little) romance. I easily give it five stars. ( )