The Vanishing

October 21, 2019
Krentz (Untouchable) leads readers into an immersive, atmospheric world in the romantic suspense novel that opens her Fogg Lake trilogy. Following a mysterious occurrence known as “the Incident,” the inhabitants of the sleepy town of Fogg Lake developed psychic abilities. Childhood friends Catalina Lark and Olivia LeClair put their paranormal powers to use solving crimes as private investigators in Seattle. When Olivia disappears, Catalina fears that the unsolved murder they witnessed as children may have come back to haunt them. Around the same time, the Foundation, an organization devoted to studying the paranormal, investigates the murders of two collectors of otherworldly artifacts. Despite bad blood between Catalina and the Foundation, when the president of the Foundation’s nephew, Slater Arganbright, offers to collaborate on solving both mysteries, Catalina reluctantly agrees. As they search for the missing collectors’ items and follow leads to find Olivia, Slater and Catalina develop a deep connection on both a psychic and physical level. Krentz masterfully balances mystery, romance, and the paranormal. Readers are sure to be hooked on this new series. Agent: Steve Axelrod, Axelrod Agency.

Sandra Michelle's narration doesn't match the intensity of this audiobook. When Catalina Lark and Olivia LeClair were young, they witnessed a murder that results in Olivia's being kidnapped 15 years later. Michelle's juvenile tone for Catalina does not reflect her age or her investigative talents. Catalina gets help finding Olivia from Slater Arganbright. Again, Michelle misses the mark; the voice she uses for Slater fails to make him sound like a man. The narrator's lack of inflection flattens the listening experience so that descriptions of the scenery and the heroine being held at gunpoint receive the same emotional weight. The one point when the flat tones do work is when the heroine goes into a trance. Overall, this story is intriguing, but its narration falls short. S.B. � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine