This is a suspense novel and the first book that I've read by this author. Ellie Hathaway is a young police officer in a small Massachusetts town. Unbeknownst to everyone in the town, including the officers she works with, Ellie was once the victim of a serial child kidnapper. She was the only one of his victims to escape and that was thanks to the quick thinking of FBI agent Reed Markham. For the past three years, right around her birthday in July, a person has disappeared from Ellie's town. Shortly after each disappearance, she receives an unsigned birthday card. Her colleagues on the force do not believe Ellie's theory that the disappearances are related (mostly because they do not know of her past). So, as her birthday approaches, Ellie calls up Agent Markham for help. She hasn't seen him since the night he rescued her and she doesn't know that he's going through a rough patch and is on "stress" leave from the FBI. The mystery that follows is actually very thin. There is truly only one possible suspect in the town given the way the book is written and so I was disappointed in that aspect of the book. However, I thought the portrayal of a survivor of such a violent childhood trauma was excellently done. Ellie's emotions are not cut and dried, and what happened to her has affected the way she lives and the way she thinks. For this alone, I was glad to have read the book.
Monday, March 19, 2018
The Vanishing Season/ Joanna Shauffhausen/ 274 pgs
This is a suspense novel and the first book that I've read by this author. Ellie Hathaway is a young police officer in a small Massachusetts town. Unbeknownst to everyone in the town, including the officers she works with, Ellie was once the victim of a serial child kidnapper. She was the only one of his victims to escape and that was thanks to the quick thinking of FBI agent Reed Markham. For the past three years, right around her birthday in July, a person has disappeared from Ellie's town. Shortly after each disappearance, she receives an unsigned birthday card. Her colleagues on the force do not believe Ellie's theory that the disappearances are related (mostly because they do not know of her past). So, as her birthday approaches, Ellie calls up Agent Markham for help. She hasn't seen him since the night he rescued her and she doesn't know that he's going through a rough patch and is on "stress" leave from the FBI. The mystery that follows is actually very thin. There is truly only one possible suspect in the town given the way the book is written and so I was disappointed in that aspect of the book. However, I thought the portrayal of a survivor of such a violent childhood trauma was excellently done. Ellie's emotions are not cut and dried, and what happened to her has affected the way she lives and the way she thinks. For this alone, I was glad to have read the book.
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