Customer Reviews

Vanished (Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense #51)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I wanted to take Margaret Daley's romantic suspense novel on the family vacation, but made one little mistake. I read the first page and that was it! I finished the book before we even left.

J.T. Logan is a widower, a single dad and the county sheriff in his hometown, paying his teenage daughter Kim to watch her younger sister Ashley. A typical teenager, Kim wants to talk on the phone with her friends and tells Ashley to go out and play. However, someone is watching the yard. Someone who means J.T. great harm and that someone kidnaps eight year old Ashley.

J.T. now has to try to be both a dad to his two teenage children still at home, Kim who is filled with guilt and remorse and Neil, the high school academic and sports star, while maintaining cold professionalism as he searches for Ashley. This novel gripped me to the extent I found myself praying along with the entire town for the safe return of Ashley.

J.T., a former Chicago detective wants to look at criminals he put away while he was boozing it up in the Windy City. Madison Spenser, an FBI agent who worked with J.T. before has a hunch the perpetrator is much closer to home. Several red herrings pop up, as the reader tries to figure out who the kidnapper is. And then a man is murdered, his charred remains found in a burning speed boat and the stakes get higher. The kidnapper is capable of murder.

As the case progresses both J.T. and Madison reluctantly look at the feelings they have for each other. As J.T.'s nerves become frayed and he feels the total helplessness any parent would feel having a child kidnapped, Madison finds him sitting in his Jeep with an open bottle of booze. He didn't take a drink, but confides in her that he used have a serious drinking problem. He's a recovering alcoholic. Madison has her own issues, as she has emotional scars from a broken engagement, where she was left standing at the altar.

Will little Ashley be found alive? Will J.T. and Madison overcome their issues and take a chance on true love?

J.T. Logan gets his own story in this new inspirational romance. He once was a detective in Chicago, now he is the sherriff of his hometown. He has put many criminals behind bars and someone comes after him with revenge in mind. Someone kidnaps his youngest daughter. FBI agent Madison Spencer finds herself once again working with J.T. to try to find his daughter. The now widowed sheriff has to try to keep himself together for the sake of his other kids while fighting the demons of alcohol abuse. He is tormented by the death of his wife thinking he is the blame for her demise. Madison is there for him and his family to try to get his daughter back. Meanwhile she is coming off of an engagement that went bad while trying to control her feelings for J.T. This is a very riveting read that will keep you guessing on the outcome until the very end. J.T.'s character was first introduced in Margaret's other inspirational romance So Dark the Night. Will Madison and J.T. find the culprit in this crime and will true love finally bring them together.

I've never read a Love-Inspired suspense book. I picked this up after hearing Margaret Daley speak at a local writers group meeting. So, this isn't my genre, but the the book sounded interesting. The beginning rips your heart right out. Ashley is at home with her older sister, Kim, and playing in the back yard. J.T., the chief of police in their small town comes home and asks Kim where Ashley is. Kim says she's outside. She's not. Panic sets in and soon J.T. realizes his eight year old daughter is gone. He's the sheriff, he's supposed to keep everyone safe, yet he can't even protect his own daughter.

Soon, the FBI is on the case and the entire town is helping J.T. find his daughter. An FBI agent named Madison begins working with J.T. They've worked together before. Beneath the stress of the case, a romance begins to bloom between the two. The book spends a lot of time on Kim's guilt for being the only one home when her sister was taken and on older brother Neil's feelings of helplessness as he constantly wants to help.

I enjoyed the characters, the suspense and the romance in this novel. Since it is part of a large line of books, I could also tell where the novel had to follow certain guidelines. The romance between the main characters, while seeming real, also felt like there were never any other alternatives to the ultimate resolution. I know there is a book before this one that has the same characters, and perhaps I should have read it first. At times, I felt lost while reading this book amidst all the characters that received little description and were constantly referred to on a first name basis.

Women, if you read these Love-Inspired books, then get your husbands to read them. Vanished, by Margaret Daley is a good read.

Former Chicago detective and current sheriff of Mercer County, J.T. Logan has put away his share of criminals. Some of them threatened to get even, but J.T. just brushed it off, until someone kidnapped his eight-year old daughter,Ashley. Now he has to do the impossible, putting his reaction as a father aside, as he tries to find Ashley before it's too late.

Madison Spenser, F.B.I. Agent has worked with J.T. before, but never like this. She watches as he struggles to be there for Neil and Kim, his two older children, while trying to be coldly professional in his search for Ashley. She reluctantly realizes her feelings of concern for him are more personal than they should be.

A missing child is every parent's nightmare. In Vanished Margaret Daley has done a great job of capturing the grief, the tension, and the overwhelming sense of helplessness a parent feels at a time like this. I always enjoy Margaret Daley's writing, and Vanished is her best yet.

Not realising this is the sequel to So Dark the Night, I read this story first. Although you meet Sheriff J.T. Logan & Madison Spencer in the previous book, you don't need to have read it before this one.

J.T. Logan's younger daughter has been kidnapped & it's a race against time to find her. J.T. has a horrible feeling someone from one of his past cases has a grudge against him, & has kidnapped his young daughter in revenge.

Madison Spencer from the FBI is back to help him. She finds herself not only working to help him find Ashley, but reaching out to support the family as they deal with the horror. She didn't expect the effect the family would have on her heart.

J.T. feels a failure. He failed his late wife. He's failed to keep Ashley safe & can't find her. He's failing his older daughter Kim, her guilt eating at her because she didn't keep a closer watch on Ashley, & he can't seem to reach or reassure her. He feels blessed to have Madison here helping. Her quiet support of him is helping keep him sane during this nightmare. He appreciates how she is able to reach out & comfort Kim, talk with Neil & keep the family together. He's growing very fond of her - but he can't let her too close, because he's scared it will only be a matter of time before he fails her too.

I loved this very fast paced, very intense (probably because it's a child who has been taken), but also very compelling story.

The book was rated by them as good condition. I would say it had been read and loved by more than one person. Any book I intend on passing on or selling, I try not to bend the book so much that it makes creases. I realize this was not a new book but I have purchased from them before and the book I receive before was in better condition.