Julia Bishop has had a rough go of it lately. Her husband committed suicide after being exposed for being the "Bernie Madoff of the midwest." She has had to face the media scrutiny alone. Her friends have all abandoned her and she has no family left. When Adrian Sinclair knocks on her door and offers her a deal that is too good to be true. He will help her "disappear" from her life and in exchange, Julia will act as caretaker for his elderly mother, Amaris Sinclair. Julia is intrigued, not only because Amaris Sinclair is one of her favorite authors, but because the whole world believed Amaris Sinclair to be dead. Julia says good-bye to her life in Chicago and hello to the Havenwood estate in the woods off of Lake Superior. The massive home is like nothing she has ever seen before, but it doesn't take long before Julia realizes that there is something dark and sinister lurking in Havenwood. As the days pass Julia becomes more and more concerned with her safety, not even Drew, the handsome stable-hand can make Julia feel safe. Will she be able to get to the bottom of what is going on at Havenwood or will she leave it behind forever?

I absolutely love these gothic novels that feature a majestic, if not creepy, home. Havenwood appears to be the creepiest of the creepy. Julia keeps hearing and seeing things. Things that she attributes to going off her medication, which I am not sure how I feel about that implication. There is definitely supernatural history to Havenwood, including a psychic medium that had some connections with pretty famous literary figures. I liked Julia's relationship with Drew. But there were hints that there was more to his presence at Havenwood. Like there was something supernatural about him. There is a lot for the reader to speculate on and not a lot of resolution for a lot of the speculation. For this reason, I did not like The Vanishing as much as I did The Fate of Mercy Alban. - It just felt like there was too much left unanswered and the end confused the heck out of me. - CLICK HERE FOR SPOILERS

Bottom Line - Even though I struggled with some things about The Vanishing, it was still the kind of gothic read that has become one of my favorite genres. The kind of read where the house is a living, breathing character. So good!

Details:
The Vanishing by Wendy Webb
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Pages: 304
Publisher: Hachette
Publication Date: 1/21/14
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Thank you, NetGalley for the review copy!