Based on the other reviews, I'm solidly in the minority here: this is not the sort of book I expect from someone who has won awards in their field (as the author has won the Shamus award from the ITW). I did not find the book to be particularly well-written or the story one that couldn't be figured out abut 20% of the way in (based on markings in my Fire).

PROBABLE SPOILERS AHEAD

Sidney "Doc" O'Keefe has been released from prison, where he was incarcerated for ten years after being caught as the wheelman for two of his friends - friends who executed a Chinese family of four at the behest of their boss, a gangster named Rabuffo. Sidney assures the reader that he, himself, did not participate in the shooting of the family. Multiple times through the book, again and again. We get it, he's innocent, even though I didn't buy it the first time he told us and was even more convinced he was involved in nefarious doings the further the book rolled along. (I was right.)

Sidney and his wife Penny, along with their daughter Chloe, who is now 11, head to Lake Placid as a family rebonding thing. There they set themselves up next to another couple, the Stevens, and their daughter. Sidney and Penny decide to leave their daughter outside, paying with the daughter of total strangers, to go back to the hotel room and have some sexytime. Sidney finally admits he gave up Rabuffo to the Feds, and that's how he was able to get his release.

First of all: who in their right mind leaves their child with complete strangers? Second, how is little vacation being paid for? The opening page says they sold their house to pay his legal bills, after which his wife and daughter moved into a one bedroom apartment, then a studio apartment. We get the answer to the former (idiots) but not really the latter.

When they go back out to the beach, their daughter is gone. The Stevens are of no help, and their daughter saw nothing. Thus we begin Sidney and Penny's hunt for their daughter. They walk through the town, return to the hotel, where House Detective Giselle assures them they are scouring the hotel for her. Everything comes up empty.

They head to the police to file a report. The chief, Walton, makes no effort whatsoever to act like someone concerned for a missing child; instead he all but accuses Sidney of doing something terrible to her, being an ex-con and all. They head back to the hotel, and that night, hear their daughter calling for them. Sidney jumps up and sees what appears to be a man with his daughter. He heads out of the room toward them, and is promptly hit on the head. He shakes it off and goes after the man he saw, dragging him off a fence and pounding the crap out of him, trying to find out where his daughter is.

The next day, the guy he beat up is on tv telling a sob story about how he was just minding his business and Sidney just beat him up. The cops show up, and Sidney and Penny steal a jeep and head for the hills (literally). They find a vacant hunting cabin and hole up there, but naturally, the cops manage to find them in this one remote, abandoned cabin, bring a helicopter along, and start firing grenades at the cabin.

The book had, to that point, only made me shake my head from time to time. After that point, I just sighed and made myself go through the rest of it. It's all a grand scheme, involving his lawyer, wife, the Chief of police, some weirdo named Gary (who they trust without a second thought, even though the book has already shown they shouldn't be trusting complete strangers), one of Sidney's friends from the massacre of the Chinese family, and the House Detective.

What they want is all the money Rabuffo has stored in a vault in his house, since Rabuffo has been fortuitously arrested by the FBI and his house is empty. For some reason, Rabuffo had keyed Sidney to the vault, via optical scan (what, none of them saw Demolition Man?) and entry code. And for some reason, the Feds and police and simply run crime scene tape around the place and then just went on their way, leaving no one at all to watch the place.

There are a bunch of deaths, by bullet and by strangulation by belt, and lost things (and people) found. Sidney lives, just like that - snap! - exonerated, and is reunited with Chloe.

It's a short book at only 226 pages, and I really hope that the review ecopy I received is an uncorrected proof. There is apostrophe abuse, incorrect use of words that show why people should not rely on spellcheck alone (wrap for rap, for instance, right on page 3), tons of sentence fragments, and phrases that made no sense.

"I'm free, paroled for good if I keep my nose clean, as the rednecks like to say."

I a fairly sure that keeping one's nose clean is not just the purview of rednecks (or mothers wiping snot off a toddler's face, for that matter).

Then there's this, which I had to read a couple of times to understand what the heck he was saying - not to a person, just telling the reader something.

"You know, the big, black Suburban I drove to the house lived in by a Chinese family who owed my boss, Ricky Rabuffo, too much money."

What? How about making that better, using active instead of passive voice, and using some of those commas on all the sentence fragments strewn everywhere?

It started off well: ex-con goes to the beach with his wife and daughter. Their daughter goes missing, and they need to find her. It was all downhill from there, with a too-many-people-involved conspiracy, short sequences where we have to question if Sidney is actually seeing something/having something happen to him, and lots of the author telling us things instead of showing them to us.

Two stars out of five.

Thanks to Oceanview Publishing and NetGalley for the review copy.

This was a pretty good novel throughout, but there were some minor errors with some of the writing, with grammar and the wrong name being written at one point. Apart from that, I really enjoyed the story and found the ending pretty interesting. I wouldn't mind reading more from this author in the future.

Gawd, this was complicated! Fast moving and exciting -this is a great story, full of twists and turns
Thanks to the publisher, author and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

It was an action-packed, fast-paced, and very engaging story about a convicted felon that was granted parole, but his dreams of living a fairytale life were gone after his daughter went missing. As he takes the path to find his daughter, everything else starts to unravel. I am shocked by the twists and didn’t see it coming. This book is worth not sleeping!

I enjoyed this book.... A first person perspective with lots of deprecating humor. Lots of twists and turns, and a surprise ending. Strongly recommended

Fast paced book that grabbed my interest from the start. The story was full of twist and turns, but I found the ending a little confusing.

Thank you Oceanview Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC.

Extremely fast paced and exciting! This one was good from the start. Lots of twists and turns, but Zandri made it fun to keep up with. I definitely wasn't expecting how this one turned out.

A very intense mystery and psychological thriller with many twists and turns. I definitely did not see that the biggest twist coming. The characters are well placed. The story of time, love, trust, crime, deceit, family and gut all comes into play. Do you go with your gut instinct or do you run? A page turner that will leave you thinking you know what's coming next only to find out that it's not what it seems. Even when you think the story has ended, you can never be sure.

I found this an enjoyable read. A good mystery with some interesting twists. This is a book which I would recommend to others.

This is a psychological suspense at its best, one that plays with the mind of the protagonist and also with the one of its readers.

Not everything is as it seems

Sidney “Doc” O’Keefe is free after being incarcerated for 10 years in a maximum-security for a murder he did not commit. He needs a change in pace so with his wife and daughter he heads to Lake Placid but soon things turned ugly when his daughter is abducted from the beach just steps away from their hotel room. Sid thinks his old crime boss Mickey Rabuffo to be behind the act. Unfortunately, with his history of violence both in and out of jail Sid becomes the prime suspect. With nowhere to go Sid and Penny (wife) decide to take matters in their hands…Is this a mistake? Both are led down a path too convoluted to discover the truth. What a story.

This is a classic noir writing style at its best. Told from Sid’s point of view, he is a simple man driving by his unwavering love for his daughter. We immediate feel a connection with him. I loved him and rooted for him hoping all would end well.

This story needs full attention, Mr. Zandri knows how to execute twists that seem to lead somewhere but just when you thought you had it all figured it out and knew where he is going with his next move, he throws a curve to derail us and teases us with something new. I couldn’t resist turning the pages to see what would happen next. What a smart and cunning drama. The words are perfectly weaved to grab from the start and not let go. We have many chase scenes, lots of violence, blood and gore to make this not only an intense and captivating read but also a cinematic page-turner hard to put down. What a conspiracy is played out here.

And by the end:

Was this saga the fruit of Sid’s fertile imagination ……an illusion of some kind...the question is up for debate....well-done.

This is a fast-paced, gritty novel that grabs you by the throat from the beginning. Sidney is paroled after a 10-year stint in a federal prison and just wants a weekend getaway with his wife Penney and daughter, Chloe before he must report to his parole officer and begin looking for work. But when 11-yr-old Chloe suddenly disappears from the beach, his world comes crashing down. Is it the mob boss who was the mastermind behind the crime that put him in prison or are there other forces at work? Fortunately, he learned to survive in prison so he's going to put those skills to the test as he and Penney set off to find Chloe when it seems the local police are doing very little. Many chase scenes, lots of violence, blood, and gore so keep that in mind as it's intense! But it was definitely a satisfying read!

Very suspenseful and exciting. Full of drama and tense. Definitely a thriller you should check out. Well written and characters that stick with you. Happy reading!

If you're looking for action, violence, mystery, lots of 'wait - what?!' moments, this book is for you! Deceit, betrayal, impossible to imagine situations - - one after another they were crammed into this story. The writing is good, the characters vivid, and the story itself flows nonstop.

This is a fast read - - because it's almost impossible to put down!!

Great story, lost me at the end. Toward the end the story started to go in several directions and it was hard to keep up with.

I love the way this book started out. A quick burn, and then, BAM, we were into the story. About 1/2 through, though, I felt like the story went off the rails, and I had a hard time keeping my concentration. By the end of the book, I couldn't even tell you what happened, because I was so distracted by everything else. I feel like it could have been a really great story.

The Girl Who Wasn't There comes out 6.30.2020.

2/5 Stars

This book was a lot of fun! It centers on Sidney, a recent parolee who takes his wife and daughter on vacation after 10 years in prison. While at the beach, their daughter disappears and the rest of the book is spent on their efforts to locate her. Sidney had to turn on his mob relations in order to be granted parole, so they are obvious suspects, but there are additional twists and turns to the story.

This was a really fast paced book, with action all the way through. I liked Sidney and felt that he was an authentic voice. I did, however, think both he and the other characters in the book made some really dumb decisions, so don't say you weren't warned when read some of them!

There were some definite surprises and even the end of the book left some questions unanswered. I generally see through the twists but was surprised a couple of times.

I'd recommend this book to those who like mysteries and action thrillers- it's a quick read as well as an exciting one. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a well written story, with lots of action and twist, but it's still an easy read. It's also entertaining if you don't think too much, as there are som really strange decisions made by the characters to get the plot going.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this amazing book

a girl abducted on a mini break
her parents frantic for her return

one of them is a convicted felon released early on parole

but who could be behind the abduction and do the police really believe the story about the missing girl or is it a ploy...did the felon kill his daughter or was she really kidnapped?


wow this story has so many twists and turns you dont know who to believe....kept me reading till quite late, and even then i had to finish it

going to be keeping an eye out for more of this authors works

Oo y’all this was such a creepy thriller!! I loved it so much. A definite must read. The characters were awesome!!!

Sid just got out of prison for turning in his mob-like bosses. He goes on a vacation with his wife and daughter and his daughter disappears. This story tracks Sid and his wife Penny's search for their daughter as Sid balances how much to trust authorities, how much to risk his parole, how they work with the law and how they don't.