The Vanishing by Jayne Ann Krentz – Review, Excerpt & Giveaway
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Description:
Forty years ago in the small town of Fogg Lake, “The Incident” occurred: an explosion in the cave system that released unknown gases, causing peculiar effects on its residents, such as strange visions and ominous voices. Not wanting the government to get involved, they chalked it up to the hallucinogenic effects of mushrooms. Little did they know these effects would linger through the generations….
Residents Catalina Lark and Olivia Dayton have been best friends for years and own an investigation firm together, using what they call the “other sight” to help with their business. When Olivia goes missing, Cat frantically begins the search for her alone when the town does nothing about it. When scientist Slate Trevelyan shows up, she has no choice but to accept his help even though there’s something about him she just can’t trust. The duo discovers someone is hunting the two witnesses of a murder in Fogg Lake fourteen years ago—the very one Cat and Olivia witnessed as teens, one that they couldn’t prove happened. Cat and Slate’s search for Olivia takes them down a rabbit hole that is far more dangerous and mysterious than they ever expected, and with a killer in their midst, neither of them can foresee who will come out alive.
Review:
The Vanishing by Jayne Ann Krentz is the 1st book in her new Fogg Lake series. The story begins around 40 years ago in the small town of Fogg Lake, when an explosion caused various effects on many of the residents; such as visions, auras and other paranormal things. The community kept to itself, not revealing anything about those strange effects; leaving the town bare of updated mechanics, such as wifi, computers, cell phones, as the dense fog blocked those signals.
We pick up with Catalina Lark and Olivia Dayton, best friends who grew up in Fogg Lake, and now work together in Seattle running a private investigative firm; both have the sight, and use those abilities to help in their line of work. Both Cat and Olivia were involved years before, as teenagers, in an incident in one the caves in Fogg Lake, where they witnessed a murder, and managed to escape the murderer by going deep into the strange vibes of the cave. The town convinced them that they had been hallucinating due to the gases in the cave and the matter was dropped.
Now in present time, Cat is worried, as Olivia has disappeared. Enter Slater Arganbright, who is the nephew of the head of The Foundation, which monitors supernatural things. Slater is a scientist, and also has unique and similar abilities as Cat. She wants nothing to do with the Arganbrights, as they caused her grief in her business, but desperate for help finding Olivia, she agrees to team up with Slater. They come to the conclusion that someone from the past, specifically the murderer from the incident years before, who is looking for both Olivia and Cat. This will lead them back to Fogg Lake, as they race against time to find Olivia, and discover who and what in the past is hell bent on destroying them. They will discover that there are dangerous things in the caves, that involve government experiments.
What follows is an exciting and intense adventure, with Slater and Cat working very well together. It was nice to see a romance slowly build over their time together; I really liked both Cat and Slater. To tell too much more would be spoilers. The Vanishing is a fast-paced suspenseful mystery thriller, with supernatural elements that add to the storyline. Jayne Ann Krentz once again gives us a great start to a new trilogy, which I look forward to reading the next book. If you enjoy suspense mysteries, great couple and a dose of supernatural, you need to read this new series.
Reviewed by Barb
Copy provided by Publisher
Chapter 5
By the time Catalina reached the lobby of the office building that housed Lark & LeClair, she was a little winded, tense with anger and vibrating with anxiety.
Daniel was already behind his desk. He took one look at her when she came through the door and got to his feet.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“I’m fine. Has there been any word from Olivia?”
“No.” Daniel frowned. “Should there be some word from her?”
Catalina glanced at the clock. “In another five minutes she’ll be late. She’s never late.”
Daniel raised his brows. “The hot date, remember? She’s probably having a late breakfast with Mr. Perfect.”
“Probably,” Catalina said.
Daniel exhaled slowly. “You think something’s wrong, don’t you?”
“Olivia knows I would be worried about her by now,” Catalina said. “She should have checked in. She’s not answering her phone. I’m going to call Ferris.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Daniel said.
“I can apologize later.”
Emerson Ferris answered on the fourth ring. He sounded groggy; maybe hungover. Maybe angry. Whatever the case, it was clear from his first words that he was not in a good mood—certainly not in the mood one would expect from a man who had spent the night with a lover.
“No, Olivia isn’t here,” he growled. “Who the hell is this?”
“Catalina Lark, her friend and business partner. We’ve met a few times, remember?”
“Oh, yeah, I remember you. Well, you can tell your friend and business partner that I got the message. But, shit, she could have texted me to say it’s over. She didn’t have to ghost me. I spent half the day on that meal and she didn’t even bother to let me know that she wasn’t going to make it. I thought she cared. I was so wrong about her.”
Catalina stopped breathing. She clutched the phone so tightly it was a wonder the device didn’t shatter.
“Are you saying Olivia didn’t show up at all last night?” she whispered.
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m saying.” Emerson paused. “Why? Do you know something I don’t know?”
“No,” Catalina said. “I don’t, and that’s got me scared half to death.”
“What the hell?” Sudden alarm erased the growl in Emerson’s voice. “Where’s Olivia?”
“I have no idea,” Catalina said. “Why do you think I called you? I’m going to hang up now and make some other phone calls.”
“Holy shit, do you mean you’re going to start calling the hospitals? Do you really think something happened to her?”
“I just told you, I don’t know,” Catalina said. “But something is very wrong. I’ve got to go now. Give me your word that you’ll call me if you hear from her.”
“Yeah, sure.” Emerson’s voice sharpened. “I’ll get in touch right away. What about her car? Is it gone?”
“Her car is still in the apartment garage. She said she was going to use a ride-hailing app to go to your place.”
“Maybe the car service can tell you when they picked her up and where they took her.”
“Trust me, I’m going to start there.”
“Let me know what you find out, okay? Call me immediately. Now you’ve got me worried, too.”
“I’ll be in touch,” Catalina said.
She hung up the phone and looked at Daniel. “Olivia never showed up at Emerson Ferris’s condo.”
Daniel reached for his own phone.
“I’ll call the hospitals,” he said. “You deal with the ride-hailing company.”
Twenty minutes later they both put down their phones. Catalina had to fight to suppress the raw panic that was eating her up inside.
“The car service guy says Olivia canceled the pickup,” she managed, trying to maintain a semblance of calm. “I called all of her other friends. No one saw her last night.”
“The hospitals have no record of admitting anyone by that name,” Daniel reported. “What in the world is going on? It’s not like Olivia to just up and vanish.”
“No, it’s not,” Catalina said. She grabbed her coat and handbag and headed for the door. “You stay here and start going through the morning news reports. You’re looking for anything that happened in the Seattle downtown area last night. Car accidents. Fires. Shootings. Robberies. Kidnappings. Anything.”
Jayne Ann’s Publisher, Berkley is offering a hardcover copy of THE VANISHING to ONE (1) lucky commenter at The Reading Cafe.
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