The Vanishing

November 25, 2013
Webb (The Fate of Mercy Alban) once again mines the secrets of an old mansion for an effective contemporary supernatural thriller. Three months after the suicide of Julia Bishop’s husband, who turns out to be “the Midwestern Bernie Madoff,” Adrian Sinclair, a complete stranger, shows up at the Chicago novelist’s door with a proposal to give her a new life as a companion to his aged mother at their northern Minnesota estate, Havenwood. Julia, who faces lawsuits and possible jail time, quickly accepts, though she’s amazed to learn that Adrian’s mother is famed horror writer Amaris Sinclair (aka “the female Edgar Allan Poe”), who supposedly died 10 years earlier. Havenwood proves to have a storied past that includes a macabre incident involving a famous 19th-century spiritualist, Seraphina, a murder, and spirits lingering from that long ago time. Julia’s tortuous, haunting journey of self-discovery will keep readers turning the pages. Agent: Jennifer Weltz, Jean V. Naggar Literary.

November 15, 2013
Now that her husband, Jeremy, has bilked thousands of people out of their life savings and committed suicide, Julia Bishop finds herself without friends or prospects, unless you count angry reporters and prison sentences. When a mysterious but clearly wealthy stranger named Adrian Sinclair offers Julia a job as companion to his mother, she has to consider it. When he mentions that his mother is Amaris Sinclair, she cannot refuse. After all, the famous writer of horror stories inspired Julia's own novel. And she supposedly died 10 years ago. Adrian offers Julia a chance to vanish, just as his mother did, to the Havenwood estate. Just days after accepting Adrian's offer, she learns her own home has been burned to the ground, presumably with her in it, and Julia begins to question her decision. Everyone is exceedingly nice to her, as if she were a close friend of the family, and she has full run of the place--Amaris even encourages her to snoop. Drew McCullough is certainly enticing, too. He's the descendent of Andrew McCullough, who originally built Havenwood as an exact replica of his ancestral home in Scotland. Rumors swirl about his relationship with a spiritual medium, Seraphina, who performed her final seance at the estate and was never heard from again. Pushing her misgivings aside, Julia hopes Havenwood will inspire her to write again. The mansion is clearly home to a few ghosts, such as the little girl singing in the library. It isn't long, though, before the ghosts become threatening, and Julia's sense of deja vu escalates. A brisk thriller tinged with gothic elements, Webb's (The Fate of Mercy Alban, 2013, etc.) latest builds excitement but neglects tension. Careening through seances and ghostly encounters leaves the reader breathless but wishing for a slower, spine-tingling swell of suspense.

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December 15, 2013
Webb follows The Fate of Mercy Alban (2013) with another spooky supernatural tale. Julia Bishop is at her wit's end after the fraudulent business dealings and subsequent suicide of her husband, Jeremy, leave her penniless and reviled by their former friends. When Adrian Sinclair shows up on her doorstep and offers her a job as a caretaker for his elderly mother, horror novelist Amaris, the opportunity for escape from her life is just too good to pass up. Julia journeys to Havenwood, the Sinclairs' Minnesota estate, with high hopes for a fresh start, but she soon finds life at Havenwood unsettling and at times downright frightening. The airy mansion appears to be haunted by sinister spirits, and a menacing intruder begins spying through the windows. And Julia is deeply unsettled by her own resemblance to pictures of a beautiful medium who visited Havenwood over a century ago. A late-in-the-game revelation feels somewhat improbable, but Webb expertly builds suspense and offers a thought-provoking tease in the final pages.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)