Recommended for mature readers due to strong language and graphic violence.
Rayne Kilpatrick has everything. A job she’s dreamed of since a little girl. The perfect house. And a man she loves and is about to marry… Until he never returns from a humanitarian mission.
Gone. Disappeared. Vanished.
When footage of his gruesome murder by a Muslim extremist group is shown across the country and around the globe, she wants the person responsible for the disappearance of the man she loves to pay. She wants him to lose the one person who means the world to him, too, and she won’t stop until he does.
Alexander Burnham has everything… Finally. A job he enjoys where he can actually make a difference in the world. The perfect woman who he’s loved his entire life. And the most beautiful daughter a father could ask for… Until he walks into her bedroom one morning to find it empty.
Gone. Disappeared. Vanished.
It’s a race against the clock for Alexander to put the pieces together and find out who has taken his daughter and what they want from him. As information comes to light, he is forced to bury the guilt he feels after losing his fellow team member and focus instead on finding and saving his daughter…
Before it’s too late.
Vanished can be read in conjunction with or separate from the Beautiful Mess series.
*** I voluntarily reviewed this book, I gained no monetary incentives nor was I specifically requested to review the book, these are my honest ramblings and I hope you enjoy reading them - kat***
I will say this was a hard book to read in one sitting, I had to take breaks at certain points because my heart and throat and eyes couldn't take it. Even as I neared the end, I had to go do something else as I was crying so hard I couldn't see my kindle! and I will say the warning is correct, this is NOT a romance, it's like reading an episode of Criminal Minds, the tension, stress of the investigation came over strongly in Ms. Leigh's writing.
I have been a fan of
T.K. Leigh since I met her in 2015, I bought her Beautiful mess series at the Readers and Writers Down Under Signing, at the recommendation of a facebook friend, Shaneen introduced us and T.K. was such a lovely person, very supportive and free with her advice for new authors. I am sad to admit that those books are still unread on my bookshelf! WELL NO MORE, I am making time to read them this month (Somehow) #bloggerproblems! (very carefully so not to spoil the books, I really hate opening my signed books to read) #Bookaholic
So I read this book blind, with no knowledge of the series. I think I am glad in a way because I went in with no preconceived ideas on what to expect.
At first I was thinking it would be a 3 - 4 star as I had a bit of a hard time relating to Rayne, I couldn't understand how she had gotten so lost, that she would consider something so heinous. Even when I learned about why she was so low I couldn't understand how she thought that Alex Burnham deserved what she was planning to do. As I read on I got more involved, the story started to give me my answers, but also would give me more puzzles to ponder.
I may have taken breaks from reading to do other things, but my mind was constantly trying to work out what was going on, what would come next and whether Melanie would survive.
By 61% I was hooked, by the complexity of the plot and as the clues for Melanie's kidnapping were revealed the tension mounted.
As Alex and the Authorities try to piece together the clues to who has taken Melanie, Alex's life and those around him are put under the microscope.
TK has done a very good job at expressing the anguish, the neverending torment of questions a parent would ask themselves if dealing with this situation.
I lost my youngest in a shopping centre when he was 6 years old, he was found 15 minutes later, but the agony of not knowing, the rampaging thoughts of what may have happened, my heart was so painful and to this day it's as fresh in my mind and it was 20 years ago.
This remembered pain, well it came back in spades reading this book, I had a lump in my throat, at times tears, and a sense of anguish, as events unfolded.
This is a good book, but its dark, its tragic, but compelling and the emotions that come across the pages feels so real, you would think it was based on experience (god forbid).
But I guess that becoming a mother herself was all that the author needed to channel the emotion she would need to write this book. This book encompasses every parent's nightmare. All I could think while reading this book was how I would cope in Olivia's shoes. I tend to immerse myself into a story so, as I said and even now when writing this review I was getting choked up.
I could write more, but I don't want to put too much in the review, I recommend you grab a copy and read it yourself (With tissues at hand).
Excerpt
This was no longer home to a fearless girl who had more love for Olivia than she deserved. This would now become a place of nightmares for her daughter. Would she ever be able to sleep in this room again? Would she ever want to sleep alone? Would she ever feel safe?
Olivia struggled to come to terms with what Melanie’s life would be like if she survived this. She hadn’t done anything to deserve this. Alexander wasn’t without his faults, and neither was Olivia, but Melanie was so young, so pure, so innocent. Now, at far too young an age, she would be jaded by the cruelties of the world.
Would she ever see her smile again?
Would she ever hear her carefree laugh?
Would she ever feel her unconditional love as she flung her arms around her?
Bleakness invaded Olivia right down to her core as she fell onto Melanie’s unmade bed. Sheets that were once warm from her presence had grown cold, and Olivia could no longer keep it in. She wasn’t just watching a made-for-TV movie about a successful, semi-famous family losing their daughter. She was living the nightmare. wishing with everything she had that this would all be over soon, that it wasn’t real.
“Wake up!” Olivia screamed, slapping her face as relentless tears streamed down her cheeks. She curled into a ball, the torment growing inside her becoming unbearable. It felt like someone was ripping her open with sadistic apathy, the pace languid and sluggish, taking pleasure from each strained breath she struggled to capture. Her skin prickled with the heat of a thousand branding irons. No matter how loud she screamed, it wouldn’t dull the pain.
“Wake up, Olivia!” she bellowed again, louder and more desperate. Nothing worked. No matter what she did, no matter how loud her cries, nothing would wake her from this nightmare.
Sobs wracked through her body as she fought for air. She tried to gain control over her body and tears, but it was useless. She was no longer in command of her own destiny. Even the seemingly innate task of inhaling and exhaling had become arduous and complicated. Melanie was her lifeline, her reason for living. Without her, Olivia’s heart gave out, her lungs refused to work, her body shut down.
Suddenly, a pair of familiar, strong arms cradled her, lifting her off the torturous bed, cocooning her in a shelter only they could provide. They comforted her sobs, giving her exactly what she needed. She cried into her husband’s chest, a hundred tears falling for every regret. No words were spoken. Lowering himself to the floor, he simply held her in his lap, wiping her tears, providing her with warmth in this cold, hateful world.
She didn’t know how many minutes ticked by as he remained there, silently assuring her with his presence that they would get through this, that everything would work out. Still, she knew they would never be the same. This had shaken their family to its core. There was no returning to the way things were before.
Olivia cried harder.
She cried for all the time she should have spent with her daughter instead of working tirelessly for one charity or another. She cried for all the times she told her no when she should have said yes. Yes, we can have pancakes for dinner. Yes, we can go feed the ducks at the pond. Yes, we can make Christmas cookies in July.
Exhaustion set in as her cries subsided and she closed her eyes. The last thing she saw before drifting off was Melanie standing alone in a dark room, a blank expression on her pale face.
