Monday, December 4, 2017

The Vanishing Season

Title: The Vanishing Season
Author: Joanna Schaffhausen
Published: December 5th 2017 by Minotaur Books
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 288 pages
Genre: Suspense
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Joanna Schaffhausen is a gifted writer, every time I thought that I had this puzzle put together, a new piece was added sending me down a new path with a new suspect in mind. I love it when an author does not intentionally mislead a reader but rather lets little parts slip in that opens up new directions to explore.

As a child, Abby Hathaway was abducted and held captive by a brutal man that liked to keep souvenirs. FBI Agent Reed Markham was determined to find this psychopath before he could claim another victim. A bond was forged between these two in a harrowing rescue. Now twenty years later with Markham mirroring John Grisham and Abby, going by her middle name of Ellery, a member of the Massachusetts’ Woodbury Police Department, their world’s collide again when Ellery calls on him when people start disappearing every July around Ellery’s birthday and cards appear that let her know that her secret is no longer safe.

Though a twisty tail, the plot does not follow the unreliable narrative that so often befuddles this genre. The reader is given the bits and pieces that move the intrigue along, without insulting your intelligence and at the same time, making your brain work sorting out the details and at the end you realize a giant clue was given to you in the beginning that you had brushed away as unimportant fluff.

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