Have You Seen Luis Velez?

In many ways, Hyde’s novel is the opposite of J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye. Both books concern themselves with a teenaged boy from New York City who feels disaffected and searches the city for what seems lost and unattainable. While Salinger’s Holden Caulfield is a white, upper-middle class prep-school student in the mid-20th century, Hyde’s Raymond Jaffe is biracial and attends public school. His stepfather’s angst about Raymond receiving special treatment from his father prevents Raymond from enjoying monetary benefits.

Holden’s greatest desire is to save children from experiencing the loss of innocence that comes with adulthood. Raymond finds himself working to spare an older adult and a widowed, marginalized single mom from despair and lack of companionship.

Hyde herself is different from Salinger, who lived as a recluse in the Northeast and published a slim body of work. Hyde is frequently interviewed, lives in California, and has published at least two novels a year for several decades.

Hyde tells the novel from the third-person point of view, as if looking over Raymond’s shoulder throughout the narrative, describing his actions, thoughts, and emotions. Unlike many contemporary authors, Hyde never departs from this point of view throughout the book.