In “Red Leaves” (Mariner Books, 2006), Thomas H. Cook’s protagonist/narrator is a father whose teenage son was suspected by the police of involvement in the disappearance of a girl for whom he was baby-sitting. In this passage, the father is reflecting on his son’s refusal to talk about the girl’s disappearance and his own reluctance to face the terrifying implications about his son: “It was an illusion that couldn’t be justified, or even maintained for very long, and I …