Book Review: For Nothing Is Hidden

Reviewed by Toni Woodruff

An intriguing, brain-teasing cold case mystery that lingers for decades

Some mysteries come with a body. Some come with answers. Some come with hidden truth. John A. Valenti’s For Nothing Is Hidden is a chilling true-crime style historical mystery based on the story of a missing child case that’s been running cold for more than half a century.

In Valenti’s story, the kid’s name is Bobby Goodson. Three-years-old. His mother went in to the grocery store for just a moment—a few minutes maximum—and when she returned, both he and his baby sister in a carriage are gone. This is a boy who doesn’t wander. Who listens to his mother. Something had to have happened.

Soon enough, two thousand people are out looking for Bobby Goodson. Johanna, Bobby’s baby sister, is found a few blocks away, still in her carriage, but despite major support and continued effort from investigators, Bobby is nowhere to be found.

Colleen is blaming herself for the catastrophic mistake. So is her husband. As time goes on, so is pretty much everyone else in town. Maybe except for Marjorie, her neighbor and best friend, who is there to comfort Colleen and care for baby Johanna as Colleen spirals.

Are we as readers ready to put blame on this hurt, untrusted woman? Do we have to read into the oddities in the case like the investigators do? Or can we put faith in the idea that she couldn’t possibly have done this to herself? Why would she? It doesn’t make sense.

Even when a possible affair is introduced—the whisperings of a pilot in uniform—we’re asked whether the two crimes have to be connected. An affair is one thing; killing or plotting to have your child taken is much different than escaping the loneliness of a distant marriage in the arms of another man.

But who would have taken him if not for those involved? What monster is out there? And as the pages flit by and so do the years, we still wonder what revelations are to come. His story has to be answered. Where did Bobby Goodson go?

For Nothing Is Hidden is based on a real-life story about Steven Damman, a two-year-old whose story has never been finished. With this novel, Valenti gives us the closure everyone needs in a case like this. And let me tell you—it’s got surprises around so many corners. The investigation is razor-sharp and atmospheric in its 1950s feel. We’re right there with them as they travel to houses one by one, asking impossibly cold questions, and hoping for just a single break in the case.

If you’re not losing sleep over what happened to little Bobby Goodson, I don’t know what book you’re reading. This thing had me picking it up at every moment I could—the prose style easy to get into and put down—and it had me thinking about it when I was away from it too. As readers, we have to piece together the truth. What aren’t we being told? Why do we keep believing that Colleen isn’t behind this—and why does it keep turning out that she’s not?

The story spans decades, all the way through to the 21st century. Sometimes the truth is hiding in plain sight; “For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light” (Mark 4:22).

Readers will be fighting constant urges to flip to the end of this book and find out what really came of the boy. The intrigue is real. And the promise of a conclusion—untrue in the case it’s based off of—is enough to keep us flitting pages quickly. However, some pages can feel like we don’t need them. Lengthy backstories on characters not yet relevant to the plot can slow things down and contribute to an overall bloat in the storytelling. It should be a long book with all the story that’s inside of it, but it could be shorter too.

The ending comes with a jaw-dropping surprise, a tingly feeling of discovery that brings us resolution. Part of its surprise, though, is that it feels unnaturally intermingled. Could this really have been the truth?

Still, surprises do happen in everyday life. Oddities occur all the time—it’s what the whole book is about really. You might not think of your neighbors as guilty of much other than domestic strife, but sometimes the truth is more unsettling than you can dream of. And you, for decades, have no idea.

Thank you for reading Toni Woodruff’s book review of For Nothing Is Hidden by John A. Valenti 3rd! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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