Vanished (The Profiler, #2) by Elizabeth Heiter
Mystery Suspense
Paperback, 400 pages
December 30, 2014
Mira
Reviewed by Tori
Favorite Quote: She had found the truth she had been searching for […] now she just had to find a way to live with it.
Evelyn Blaine lost her best friend, Cassie, eighteen years ago when she was abducted out of her backyard and never seen again. The only clue was a message left in the form of a nursery rhyme. The message also hinted at Evelyn’s possible abduction. Cassie was never found and soon Evelyn moved away. After years of silence, another girl is missing and all signs point to the return of the Nursery Rhyme killer.
Now an FBI Profiler, Evelyn is headed back to her hometown of Rose Bay, South Carolina, determined to investigate what happened to her best friend and discover if this is the same killer or a copycat. As more girls disappear, the idyllic town becomes a breeding ground of hate and violence. Tempers flare as Evelyn digs deeper into the town and it’s residents; determined to stop the killer before they stop her…permanently.
Vanished is book two in Elizabeth Heiter’s suspenseful Profiler series. A dark engaging mystery suspense with a very low-key romance. Verbose characters and a seasoned storyline provides us with a multitude of deceptive twists and turns. Using the heroine as the tether, Heiter alternates between the past and the present to reveal the motivations behind the heroine’s fanatical need to solve a series of kidnappings that has left her and her hometown scarred. The story does start out little slow as the storyline is set up and needed background given. Heiter shows considerable knowledge of procedural investigative work as she submerges us into the investigation in a clear and concise manner. The heavy hand on the emotional aspects of the investigators gives the story a sense of realism and depth as she explores the long-term ramifications of childhood trauma from multiple viewpoints. The running dialog between the characters is smooth and fast paced, though I wish we had been given some clear answers to the underlying tension that is felt between the heroine and some of the other characters.
Our heroine is an interesting mixture of contrasts. Evelyn is an intelligent, tenacious, strong-willed woman, yet there is a strong mixture of vulnerability and guilt that rides her. She became a FBI profiler because of her past and this particular case is personal for her. Personal to the point where she is willing to break the rules and endanger her own life to find answers. At times I was irritated with her only because I felt her emotional connection to the case overruled her good sense at times. Certain aspects have her running around in circles, so intent on finding the killer, she disregards what I felt were very important clues.
The secondary characters are as complex as our protagonist. Each one has a personal stake in the case and they all add personality, drama, and insight to the story. The dynamics between the characters are complicated as the past intertwines with the present. The cast provides a solid foundation in which to give our heroine a frame from which to work and build from. The villain(s) of the story are a compelling study in deception, deceit, and small town prejudice. I had some ideas to whom the killer was but was never able to verify. Heiter did a good job of tossing red herrings into your path, misleading you from page one.
There is a small romance that intertwines into the story. Those who read Haunted or the subsequent spin offs will recognise fellow agent Kyle MacKenzie. It is considerably less involved than the main plot but Heiter uses their scenes together to help give Evelyn an unconnected emotional outlet. The unvoiced sexual tension between the two agents builds slowly, giving us peeks into a possible future. Heiter doesn’t make their relationship a competing subplot but does intertwine it with the main storyline; allowing it to merge naturally and enhance the ending.
The ending comes at the reader hard, fast, and is a little overwhelming as Evelyn makes the final connection between the past and present; placing herself in the killer’s sights. A bit of an information dump tells us the whole sordid tale in one felled swoop, not giving us much time to absorb what is happening. Loose ends are wrapped up, questions answered, and the wrongs of the past are made right and finally laid to rest. Mystery suspense fans will enjoy the deception of a convoluted mystery combined with a complex and complicated heroine. You do not have to read book one-Haunted-in order to understand and connect with this book. Heiter does an admirable job of setting up the new storyline(s) and integrating the necessary background information to ensure the reader is brought up to speed.
Overall Rating: B
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