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mysterious
medium-paced
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
After leaving home at sixteen following a wild rebellious streak, Hanna has been estranged from her family for fourteen years & has finally decided to cut off all ties & move on with her life, & leaves their last Christmas card to her unopened. Her last relationship went down in flames but her best friend, Dee, sets Hanna up on a blind date with Adam. He seems fairly normal but has an unusual hobby as he runs a website which focuses on Dark Tourism - the virtual touring of sites of various crimes including murder. Following their blind date, Hanna checks out the site & is horrified to see her family home listed as the site of the murder of her dad, stepmother, & step-sister, Sasha. Adam professes innocence & says his site has been hacked, so a panicked Hanna tries to contact her family but they have disappeared & no-one knows what happened or where they went.
The narrative is split between Hanna & Sasha, with Sasha's part taking place in the months leading up to her family's disappearance. I thought both main characters were easy to empathise with & I found myself becoming invested in what had happened. Hanna's story hints as at deep dark secret in the past, whilst Sasha's plot line was rather poignant as she tried to be the obedient girl her parents expected, yet longed for some freedom, friends of her own, & to get to know her older sister. I think her internal conflict was portrayed particularly well. The story line is well written & there are several twists & turns, even if the actual resolution is pretty much what I expected. Overall it kept my interest well & I enjoyed reading it.
My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Little, Brown Book Group UK / Sphere, for the opportunity to read an ARC. I am voluntarily giving an honest review.
The narrative is split between Hanna & Sasha, with Sasha's part taking place in the months leading up to her family's disappearance. I thought both main characters were easy to empathise with & I found myself becoming invested in what had happened. Hanna's story hints as at deep dark secret in the past, whilst Sasha's plot line was rather poignant as she tried to be the obedient girl her parents expected, yet longed for some freedom, friends of her own, & to get to know her older sister. I think her internal conflict was portrayed particularly well. The story line is well written & there are several twists & turns, even if the actual resolution is pretty much what I expected. Overall it kept my interest well & I enjoyed reading it.
My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Little, Brown Book Group UK / Sphere, for the opportunity to read an ARC. I am voluntarily giving an honest review.
Moderate: Infidelity, Suicide
2.5 stars
Overall this book was fine but I was really let down by how little the "dark tourism" aspect played into the plot. I was so excited reading the summary for this book and thought anything involving creepy, potentially haunted places where gruesome murders took place would be right up my alley. Unfortunately, the entire dark tourism website is just a minor plot point in the larger themes of the book and only acts to set up the central mystery. I think the use of a website and a computer hacker also seemed unnecessary and didn't quite fit with the rest of the book.
I usually love dual narrators especially combined with differing timelines but that didn't work for me in this book. I didn't really care about Sasha's side of the story and I felt like I had to push myself through so I could get to the chapters with Hanna's narration where the plot actually moved along.
The book was longer than it needed to be and a little repetitive. Ultimately, I think I would have enjoyed this one more if the plot summary lined up with the content of the book better. It's not a book about infamous murders, dark tourism and people disappearing. It's a domestic drama about family secrets, small towns and high school bullies.
Overall this book was fine but I was really let down by how little the "dark tourism" aspect played into the plot. I was so excited reading the summary for this book and thought anything involving creepy, potentially haunted places where gruesome murders took place would be right up my alley. Unfortunately, the entire dark tourism website is just a minor plot point in the larger themes of the book and only acts to set up the central mystery. I think the use of a website and a computer hacker also seemed unnecessary and didn't quite fit with the rest of the book.
I usually love dual narrators especially combined with differing timelines but that didn't work for me in this book. I didn't really care about Sasha's side of the story and I felt like I had to push myself through so I could get to the chapters with Hanna's narration where the plot actually moved along.
The book was longer than it needed to be and a little repetitive. Ultimately, I think I would have enjoyed this one more if the plot summary lined up with the content of the book better. It's not a book about infamous murders, dark tourism and people disappearing. It's a domestic drama about family secrets, small towns and high school bullies.
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Moderate: Rape
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved the premise of this one, check this out 👇🏻
Synopsis: A family with a secret.
A past about to catch up with them.
Hanna has barely spoken to her family since the tragedy that rocked their lives fourteen years ago. The tragedy for which they held Hanna responsible.
Then she sees her family home listed as the scene of a horrific crime. Number of victims: three. Date of crime: today. Frantic, Hanna tries to contact her family, only to find they have disappeared.
To find them, Hanna will have to confront what happened all those years ago.
And the person determined to make her pay for it . . .
I mean family secrets are nothing new but I liked the whole idea of seeing a posting online saying the family were victims of a crime with the date being the present day. The whole not knowing what had happened to them, only knowing they were indeed at the very least missing was intriguing for sure and then the whole thing had a complexity that just worked for me. I wouldn’t say this was exactly fast paced but it also wasn’t a slow burn either, I guess it was just steady throughout which is honestly great because it kept me interested. There were lots of suspects to chose from and I kept changing my guesses but ultimately I did guess right. It was actually fine by me because I was still entertained, overall this was just an easy and fun thriller read for me that did have a unique feel to it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to the tagged partners for my copy.
Thank you to NetGalley, Grand Central Publishing, and Vanessa Savage for the advanced copy of The Night They Vanished in exchange for my honest review.
This was my first book by Vanessa Savage but it definitely will not be my last. I loved her writing style and the way she was able to build suspense. I also felt the alternate POV chapters blended together really well.
As for the plot itself, I was highly entertained and flipped pages like crazy to figure out how everything was going to end. As previously mentioned, Savage does a great job of building suspense and revealing the mysteries at the right time. While I didn't *love* the ending, I did find it satisfying, so I'm not too hung up on it.
Looking forward to reading more from this author in the future!
This was my first book by Vanessa Savage but it definitely will not be my last. I loved her writing style and the way she was able to build suspense. I also felt the alternate POV chapters blended together really well.
As for the plot itself, I was highly entertained and flipped pages like crazy to figure out how everything was going to end. As previously mentioned, Savage does a great job of building suspense and revealing the mysteries at the right time. While I didn't *love* the ending, I did find it satisfying, so I'm not too hung up on it.
Looking forward to reading more from this author in the future!
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes