Customer Reviews

Vanished

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Although the plot of VANISHED has been done many times, Karen Robards brings her own unique talents to this tale of a lost child. Not up to her usual standards of plot it does carry her trademark of unconnected events which finally come togather in a very remarkable way. My greatest complaint is the whinny, clingy,unstable heroine. She is a prosecutor who is supposed to be one of the best, she goes after her job fully, yet doesn't eat, falls apart easily, and hasn't seen her best friend, who is a sexy male P I in any way other than a friend in seven years. Give me a break, some I could overlook, but not wanting comfort of food, entertainment, or sex for seven years. NOt likely.

Sarah Mason is 31, seven years ago her 5 year old daughter went missing from a park. Lexie has not been heard from since, but Sarah has been searching for her with the help of Jake Hogan for the whole seven years. She is a prosecutor in the DA's office. Her whole life centers on her job and her search for her child.

Jake Hogan is a former FBI agent who has gone into the private sector. He runs his grandfather's private investigation agency. Jake is a man's man and a woman's too. Strong, giving, and ready to do anything to protect the woman he has come to love while furnishing her with family, hope, and security in her life for the last seven years. Even he has trouble believing her tales of phone calls from her kidnapped daughter after seven years.

The ending was somewhat unbelievable due to the fact you knew what had happened to the daughter. Not one of her best, but definitely worth the reading, I don't know if I would purchase a hardback again, but I know I would eventually read it either, from the library or in paperback.

This book is definitely a page turner. I read it in a day - I literally couldn't put it down. The beginning scene in the convenience store is written very well, and really pulls you into the book. The characters are also very well realized. I typically don't like thrillers, and usually spot the true culprit miles away, but this one was a surprise. I really really liked the book until the final pages, where it just gets... unbelievable. But its well worth reading.

Assistant DA Sarah is out getting kibble for her dog when she ends up embroiled in a convenience store robbery. A clerk is shot, and as she tries to flee with a small child in tow, she too is shot. When it is determined that she was shot from someone outside the store, it begs the question of who shot her, and does it have anything to do with the corrupt police officers she is prosecuting?

When she starts receiving cryptic phone calls from her daughter who was kidnapped without a trace seven years earlier, her best friend, PI Jake Hogan helps her reconcile and investigate the possibility that Lexie is still alive. Jake has had an unrequited crush on Sarah for years. He has had several empty romances while waiting for the right time to take their relationship to the next level.

Robards is at her trademark best - throwing out multiple plot lines and weaving them into an intriguing and intricate web. A complete page turner, it will keep your interest until the very end, when the plot is trashed for a "happy ending" that just doesn't fit in with the rest of the story.

I read the other reviews and I was surprised that not everyone loved the book. I don't get hung up on dates as one reviewer did, as far as I'm concerned if the storyline is good, WHO CARES. Anyway, this is the story of a woman whose child Lexie was kidnapped and 7 years later she starts receiving messages from 'the child' and odd things related to Lexie start to happen. She has a best friend Jake who is secretly in love with her but because she is so devasted about the loss of her child, she can't see it. I am giving nothing away here, all above is realized very early in the book. I think it had plenty of action and I don't really think it had as much sex as one reviewer put it. Anyhow, I did enjoy it and while it took me 5 weeks to finish it, it was only because I read slowly because I didn't want it to end. Towards the end my heart beat so fast I could hardly contain it and at the very end, I very nearly cried. Loved it. Ten stars!!!

Vanished is a bit of a dark story. Robards doesn't really go into any gruesome detail that some might find...distasteful, but it is dark-themed, dealing with child abduction, child pornography, and other such things. It's definitely not a light story. Which is not a problem for me, really. I like a good dark, suspense.

Overall, a nice storyline. Nice progression, fairly nice romantic aspect. But I wouldn't call any part of it exceptional. I've read other books of hers that I liked a lot more. I did like Vanished, it was interesting and a good read; I just wasn't enthralled. Robards does a good job keeping you wondering who the bad guy is and setting everything up. Jake and Sarah were a good enough pair...didn't absolutely adore them, but they worked for the most part.

The one thing I really disliked about this story was the ending. When I read the last sentence I looked at it and couldn't believe that was it. I thought there needed to be more. The story really just felt so incomplete to me. I wanted to know more about what was going on with the people after her, I wanted to know more about what her daughter had been through, and I wanted more of the aftermath. I felt kind of cheated at the end. I thought the discovery of the daughter and her reintroduction was really cheap, rushed and forced. In all honesty, I almost thought the story would have been better served if the girl hadn't been found, or been known to be dead. It just didn't work for me the way Robards did it.

Anyway, decent story. Worth reading, but I've read much better books, and better from Robards.

This book was the dullest read I've ever had the misfortune to read. It was a complete waste of money and time. The first chapter started of semi-ok and then detioriated. For a romantic suspense. . .there was very little suspense or romance. 10 chapters into the book. . .nothing happened. There had been maybe 5 pages spent on the mystery of her daughter and about 5 pages on the so called romance. There was a lot of monotonous dialogue. Also, Ms. Robards needs to research her knowledge of the law a lot better. There was one scene where she said "dismissed without prejudice" could not be retried. The reason that it is without prejudice is so that it can be retried.All of the characters were one dimensional and stereotypical. It didn't help that neither of the main characters were particularly likable. The hero was a 39 year old man who liked to date young blonde bimbos. The heroine was an anorexic whinger. Then there was a bunch of boring cases that preposterously tied together at the end. ****spoiler**** The convenience store robbery was also part of the twist. That was ridiculous! What two young thugs just waited until the heroine made a late night run to a convenience store so that they could make it seem like a "bungled robbery." That was asinine! Ms. Robards should go back to writing Historical Romances because her suspense books are terrible.

What a great story line. Sarah tries to move on with her life after the abduction of her daughter 7 years before. She's a very broken, lonely woman, who has no friends or family to speak of, other than her best friend Jake.

The character of Sarah did have some very redeeming qualities, but seemed to be just a bit to fragile and unglued for most of the story. While the circumstances warrant it, you find it hard to understand why Jake would have an attraction for someone who refuses to do anything (eat, watch tv, read, enjoy anything at all) She only does anything out of necessity....and just works as an a district attorney - nothing else in her life. You really do get a sense of what it was like for Sarah to loose her child and how and why she obsessed over it - but I think there was too much time spent on that.

Jake was an excellent character and he had lots of add to this story, by making Sarah face the truth about her miserable existence. He's a solid character, and likable in so many ways. There are other supporting characters that are also very well developed and quite likeable and/or believeable.

There's lots of action in this story and you are really kept guessing what will happen until the very end. I did find it slow at times, focussing on details that didn't matter and providing an excruciating amount of detail on some of the backstory. Sometimes the backstory didn't make sense where it was told.

The ending was a little abrupt and quite honestly undid all the good that was previously done in the story. Overall, a great story, but could have been a little faster paced, had a stronger female lead, and a less abrupt (and possibly different) ending. I am all for happy endings, but this one just didn't fit. I just think this story had so much more potential, but still and glad I read it.

NOTE ON THE AUDIO VERSION: I actually picked this book to read in part because of the narrator of the audiobook. Joyce Bean does a fabulous job reading the audio version, though I didn't like the voice she did for the character of Jake, it seemed a little choked and harsh. (usually I love her male voices)

This book started out great. My palms were sweating by the second or third page. I got swept up in the mystery and the romance between Sarah and Jake. My only problem was the ending. Not only was it far-fetched, but it felt like the author was going for the tear-jerker ending scene. But if you like Robards and you like steamy love scenes, give it a try.

Robards does not disappoint. This story is filled with everything for all types of readers (romance, thriller, drama, etc.)After reading some of the reviews that were posted on Amazon, I was a bit skeptical to continue reading (fearing that the ending would be left unclear)but I'm glad I continued. The ending ties the story together and leaves the reader content. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves a thriller/mystery!

This is a fairly well written book there were some typos and the law wasn't always right but the charactors were well developed. I tend to agree with some of the other reviewers who said that Sarah was whiny and anorexic...she truely is, but for me Jake and his associates made up for her flaws.

This is the second Karen Robards book I have read and just like the first this one was tied in a pretty bow at the end, and again the bad guys were obscure charactors to the story. Vanished also has the bane of many novels, with a very warm and fuzzy ending. The last couple of pages should have been reconnecting with life accepting grief seeing in color again, going on vacation for goodness sake! Something, anything... other than what it was.