Chris and his best friend have decided to use the summer after their high school graduation to ride cross country from Virginia to Seattle by bike. It is their last hurrah before they have to settle down with school.

In alternating chapters, you learn that things didn't turn out quite as they had expected as Win disappears during their extended bike ride. Chris has settled down at college only to be faced with accusations that at the very least he knows where Win is and even some suspicions that he killed his like-long friend.

After weeks of investigation, Win's father decides to take things into his own hands. He decides to put his great wealth and corporate power into hiring an FBI investigator to look into things quietly, in the hopes of preserving Win's slot at an Ivy League college their family has been attending for generations.

The investigator sets his targets on Chris since he is the last person to have any details about Win's condition. That is their only hopes of finding out what might have happened.

As you can imagine, Chris is a bit defensive and he is angry at Win for some of the things that happened on the ride, which often makes him look more suspicious, but it quickly becomes clear that he did nothing directly to Win.

The alternating chapters shifting the setting back and forth are not at all confusing. Often, it almost feels like the reader is joining Chris as he looks back on past events in the hopes of figuring out what really happened. In the process he gets a better definition of friendship, the true meaning of happiness and success, and even of himself. This format also allows the events to unfold in an interesting manner. In fact, the suspense builds like a classic old Hitchcock movie.

I know a lot of people who read this felt a bit disappointed by the ending, but I thought it was a really realistic choice for how things played out. I did not see it as being unbelievable, though it is probably not as satisfying since most of us really want a tightly tied up conclusion to a book. Unfortunately, life is not like that. One door closes, leaving another open.

I did think the book had a sense of resolution, particularly for Chris. Like most cross-country tales, the journey is an internal one as much as a geographic one, allowing the protagonist to grow and learn along the way. I think Bradbury did a great job creating a story that does that.