This is a tough review for me to write. I love Alex Carter as a character and love the overall arch of this series - following a biologist as she works on jobs related to different endangered animals in the US is super interesting to me. I love the variety of locations and animals the series has explored. The first two books were favorites for me.

Unfortunately the two most recent books were both misses. In this latest one - Alex is working to locate jaguars in New Mexico. If you’re interested in a lot of over the top action - a Mission Impossible: Biologist if you will - perhaps this is for you. It was a big miss for me and it took me forever to get through the last bit of the book because I kept getting distracted and not wanting to read it. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the free ebook and audiobook to review.

Thank you to William Morrow for this gifted copy! And thank you to Harper Audio for the ALC.

The Vanishing Kind left me so damn empty and desolate, while simultaneously being charged with hope and a sense of action. This book is described as a novel of suspense, and yes, but it is also a harsh look in the mirror for America. There are so many aspects in which we need to improve as a country. Caring for and respecting our land, empathizing and being considerate of our people, and the people seeking refuge.

I went into this richly written book blind. I did not expect to learn so much, and to nearly be brought to my knees with emotion. It hurt, frankly. It reminded me of Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy in the sense that it taught me about environmental conservation, about a species dangerously close to extinction, and how they are essential to our eco system. I knew next to nothing about Jaguars in America before this book, and now it is my hyper fixation.

I’ve felt so helpless these last few weeks. Watching the constant ticker of breaking news. The dismantling of every environmental safety net. The barreling steam engine of climate change coming at us. But this book made me feel like I could make a change in my immediate world, the same way Once There Were Wolves made me feel I was making a difference in rewilding my yard.

I cannot recommend this book enough. 🐆

This is the 4th adventure of Dr. Alex Carter. Alice Hendersons wildlife biologist. The first 3 adventure dealt with wolverines, caribou and polar bears. all of the first 3 books take us to far away and remote places. Along for this story are some of Dr. Carters' familiar friends and family. (Zoe and Ben and of course her dad). This time we are off to a desert preserve in New Mexico to study and help save the endangered jaguar. As she gets into her study she meets some new faces, An archeological dig team an eccentric billionaire and a sympathetic farm husband and wife, and some snall town artisans As she goes about running her survey she comes across a particularly nasty group of anti-immigrant vigilantes. Her troubles really start then, They want her to go and she is determined to go ahead with her new assignment. This is a fast paced story giving us a lot of info on the plight of the jaguar. its also on the violent and nasty side, showing just what some people are capable of. As in the 1st 3 books Dr. Carters mysterious savoir shows up for a little deus ex machina. hopefully his full story is forth coming. all in all this is a solid 4.5. looking forward to Dr. Carters next adventure

The Vanishing Kind is the 4th installment of Alice Henderson's Alex Carter Series. I have read and really enjoyed all of the books in this series. I find Alex's adventures as a wildlife biologist fascinating. I look forward to learning new information about the species she is working with in each book, as well as the uncovering the mystery Alex gets involved in.
In The Vanishing Kind, Alex is hired by a wildlife conservation group to search out any traces of endangered jaguars in New Mexico. Adventure and danger commence as she runs into a group doing an archeologist dig, a crazy trophy hunter, and a dangerous anti-immigrant/pro-border wall group.
If you like the great outdoors, exotic animals, wildlife conservation, and action thrillers- this is your series.
Thank you, NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

352 pages

3 stars

To begin with, I didn’t realize that there were jaguars in the US.

Putting that aside, this is Alex’s fourth adventure in the series. This time, she is off to New Mexico to investigate the population of the endangered jaguar. (What beautiful cats!) However, she runs into some thorny dilemmas.

She finds an archaeological dig nearby. The team is uncovering the gravesite of a 16th Century Conquistador. Finding the work fascinating, Alex learns about their work.

At the same time, she runs across some anti-immigrant vigilantes. These people are putting pressure on the archeologists, threatening them. They also want to stop Alex.

The vigilantes want to stop jaguars from crossing the border, as well as illegal immigrants. (What ?? That doesn’t make sense. ) This part of the book lost it for me. I enjoy Alex’s adventures, and she is always in danger on her missions. It is part of the fun and tension in Ms. Henderson’s novels. But, I couldn’t buy the idea that preventing jaguars from crossing the border had anything to do with illegal immigrants.

I want to thank NetGalley and William Morrow for forwarding this book to me so that I could read and review it. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

Good read as her other books in this series. Alex Carter is on a new assignment looking for jaguars in Mexico. As she stumbles into intrigue that she finds in the local town, with her friend the archaeologist and his students, and finally with herself under attack by the masked men aiming to get all of them to leave. It was hard to put down and definitely a page turner with enough twists and turns to keep one's interest. Also enjoyed learning about Jaguars very interesting. (Posted on Goodreads)

I found A Blizzard of Polar Bears at our local friends of the library book sale. I looked it up and found that it was #2 in a series so of course I found A Solitude of Wolverines and read it first. I was hooked and I will say I was not a suspense fan! I just finished A Ghost of Caribou and realized that The Vanishing Kind was hitting the shelf in March. Thank you for the chance to pre-read I am truly a fan.

Alice Henderson’s fourth Alex Carter thriller finds our heroine in the wilds of New Mexico, hunting the rare jaguar, to prove of its existence in that area. The assignment wouldn’t be so hard, except for a roving band of white supremacists, a mysterious billionaire funding a dig nearby and the threat of harm ‘round every corner.
On the Good Guys side, an aging professor and his students are threatened by the supremacists on their dig. A middle aged couple, an Hispanic artisan and her grandson and a widowed eccentric are also targets of the hate group. When Alex becomes entangled in their evil web, she’s put to the test, both physically and emotionally.
A rare chance to tag and observe an endangered species becomes Alex’s worst nightmare. Alone, shoeless, without a drop to drink, Alex must cross miles of dessert as the hunted. Only a miracle…or an old friend…can save her now.
Fans of Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon and video game’s Lara Croft will love Henderson’s new adventure. The author brings authenticity to the plight of endangered animals as well as resources to learn more.
Grab a backpack and travel with the great outdoors’ most exciting heroine to arrive in a long while. Alex Carter rocks!

I enjoy Alice Henderson's Alex Carter series premise: a wildlife biologist working to save endangered species always finds trouble—usually murder. I learn something and am entertained.

Alex is in New Mexico tracking jaguars at a wildlife preserve. She goes into a small town for supplies, where she encounters a white supremacist group wreaking havoc and harassing the locals. The members wear masks, so law enforcement officers have no idea who they are. In addition to threatening locals, the group targets an archaeological team excavating the gravesite of a sixteenth-century conquistador, whose members include minorities; when the group learns that Alex's research may endanger a wall on the United States/Mexico border, she becomes a target as well. As the violence escalates, Alex's life is in danger, her work threatened, and the jaguar she is tracking is in peril.

What I love most about this series is the facts about endangered species. Henderson's previous books focused on wolverines, polar bears, and mountain caribou, all of which are losing their habitats. Alex is a great character, and I enjoy the situations in which she finds herself. Henderson does a good job of depicting nature and animals. I was caught up in the dangers that Alex faces in this book. The book is suspenseful, and the action scenes are dramatic. I had a problem with how Alex got out of the deadly situation; however,--it was highly improbable. The writing is good, but the dialogue is clunky at times, and the use of exclamation points is distracting. That said, The Vanishing Kind is a good addition to the series. 3/5 stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and William Morrow, for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The publication date is March 4, 2025.

This is book 4 of the Alex Carter series from a very talented and knowledgeable author. This time Alex is tracking jaguars in New Mexico, hoping to find proof that the large cats are still living in the U.S. As usual, she encounters good and bad people who both help and hinder, including a mysterious man from previous books. The author always provides lots of background information on the animal, but this time she has included so much that at one point I felt like I was in the lecture hall. That type of information should be moved to the Afterword. I was also disappointed that the book title doesn't follow the pattern of the previous 3 books, using the name for a group of jaguars - prowl, leap, or shadow. Still, this is a terrific story, well-written, filled with action, offering complete characters, another winner. Thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins, and William Morrow for providing an ARC.

I've read the previous three books in this series and loved them. This latest one did not disappoint. I love the descriptions of the New Mexican landscape as well as issues with wildlife conservation and white supremacists. The Dr. Alex Carter character is further developed in this book. I felt her love of the natural world and its quieting influence.

Alex Carter faces off against the most deadly animal on the planet in the fourth book of this series-her fellow human beings. She’s finally in a warmer climate for this story, trying to find elusive jaguars in New Mexico. Yes, there’s jaguars in the United States. No, like most people I didn’t know this either. Like all books in this series by Alice Henderson, the book is chock full of information and facts about endangered species and the environment. It’s fascinating, although it does sometimes take away from the flow of the story itself. In this story, while Alex is trying to find a jaguar she’s dealing with an eccentric billionaire that is obsessed with being invincible and a group of white male supremicists, the latter feeling incredibly timely in the current political environment. They’re threatening the local Hispanic community members, harassing working women, including Alex, and stalking her for trying to protect animals that need open travel routes to encourage species survival and genetic diversity. The environmental side of the stories always teach me something, but the way Henderson incorporates a plausible circumstance that puts Alex in danger is what keeps me reading the books. Definitely for anyone that enjoys climate fiction books. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you @williammorrowbooks & @netgalley for my complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

Oh, how I love this action thriller series!

Wildlife biologist Dr. Alex Carter is asked to go to a remote area of New Mexico to look for signs of jaguars and tag them for study. Jaguars once roamed this area of the country but are now endangered, and Alex hopes they have made it to this protected sanctuary in New Mexico. However, once there, Alex encounters anti-immigrant activists who resort to violence, as well as dangerous hunters, and intruders. Alone in this remote area, Alex soon finds herself in a fight for her life from activists who want to prevent border wall openings for jaguars to make it into the protected sanctuary.

I have followed this series since the beginning, and the books can be read in any order, but I recommend that you go ahead and start with book one now. You will immediately want to binge-read the others! Alex is a strong female protagonist who doesn’t scare easily. She often deals with dangerous animals while in precarious situations. I can honestly say that some of my most intense moments as a reader have occurred while reading these truly unputdownable books! Every time I read one, I learn more about wildlife and endangered animals. In THE VANISHING KIND, the suspense builds throughout the book, finally ending with a dramatic (and nail-biting) conclusion! I highly recommend this book to all readers who love action/suspense!

*4.5 stars rounded up*

Wolverines, polar bears, caribou, & now jaguars!

The fourth installment in the Dr. Alex Carter series maintains the environmentalism themes in the previous three books while also balancing the suspense of not everyone being happy she’s doing a wildlife study…

Did not disappoint! There were a few things I would’ve liked to have seen more of, but that’ll just keep me eagerly awaiting the fifth book. There was a wide range of characters in this story, from local artists to people Dr. Carter knew from previous books to an eccentric billionaire to wildlife control to ranchers to archeologists to white supremacists. You don’t have to read these books in order but I felt like I got more out of them having all the background information. I always learn something about environmental issues & about the featured animal (the detail about what cologne jaguars are attracted to cracked me up!) without feeling like I’m reading dry nonfiction.

Thank you very much to NetGalley & William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Vanishing Kind by Alice Henderson is the 4th installment in the Alex Carter series. Alex is a wildlife biologist that works to identify endangered species. This time she is in New Mexico looking for jaguar. I find each book in this series interesting to learn about the specific endangered animal and what can be done to prevent extinction. It’s also a unique series to learn about how to survive and thrive on your own in the wilderness without modern conveniences.
This is an action series for sure. There is always someone out to kill Alex and usually lots of gunfire and blood. So you need to like that kind of book to enjoy this. I could see this becoming a movie or tv series in the future.
If you like the outdoors, are interested in wildlife conservation, and don’t mind some unbelievable action, then this would be an entertaining read for you. Don’t skip the afterword.
Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for my ARC.

2.5 stars

I like Alex Carter; she's kind, smart and cares about the world. Her job has taken her all over the American continent and I was really looking forward to her latest adventure. And, maybe, some closure with one of the men in her life.

This time around it was all about jaguars. Sadly, I found this story the least enjoyable in the series so far. I expected the heavy infodump, but I didn't care for the suspense. I felt lost making the connection between Alex and the various men who caused her problems. Whereas I should have finished this story in a matter of days, it took me several weeks until I finally reached the end.

Thank you to Net Galley, Alice Henderson and HarperCollins Publishers for an opportunity to read this book.

Alex returns to the states and warmer climes in book 4 of the series 'The Vanishing Kind'.
This time she's again working for hunky Ben and the LTWC, tasked with finding out whether or not jaguars are present on the Mogollon Sanctuary and refuge in New Mexico. Prime habitat close to Mexico and abutting the Gila National Forest. If she can locate and tag a jaguar it would be great leverage to establish new Wildlife Corridors of protected land between Central America, Mexico and the Southwestern US to protect the America's largest cat. But as always, there is plenty of negative attention and pushback.

This book hit me even harder than the previous ones due to the frankly frightening and empowered white supremicists Alex immediately runs afoul of. They run rampant in the area, terrorizing the small town inhabitants of Azulejo, the ranchers that support the LTWC and even the members of an archeological dig working on the property of the richest local land owner with his enthusiastic support. Frankly the almost precient knowledge of the 'Sons of the White Star's' behavior towards anyone with values differing from theirs, especially women, is terrifying. Throw in an overworked and outmatched local sheriff's department and a corrupt Wildlife Management agent and things aren't looking good for our lone jaguar.

I really think Ms. Henderson has a golden opportunity here for another series of books following her former UN Peacekeeper anti-hero and quasi-stalker Casey and what he gets up to when he's not shadowing Alex. I know I'd read them!

I received an advance review copy for free many thanks to NetGalley! and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Yet another winner from the author for me! I love the combination of wilderness thriller and animal conservation. I know every time I open a book in this series I’m going to learn something new about an animal and conservation while simultaneously following along as Alex Carter solves a related local mystery. Lined with danger, intriguing characters, and the potential for a romance, this book delivers all of this in spades. Plus a bit of Archaeology! A double win for me!

The Vanishing Kind by Alice Henderson is an absolute page-turner and reading this series always makes me want to connect more deeply with nature. Alex Carter is such a compelling lead—her passion for wildlife conservation and her determination to protect endangered jaguars really pull you into her world. Henderson brings the desert landscape to life so vividly that you can practically feel the dry heat and hear the distant rustle of wildlife. I just want to go camping after reading it!

What I love most about this series is the way it seamlessly weaves in a call for environmental action. Each book leaves me more fired up to do my part for wildlife conservation. It’s a thrill ride with a purpose, and Henderson’s love for nature and wildlife shines through on every page. If you haven't read this series yet, you need to!

One of my favorite mystery authors writing, not quite cozy but not too dark, perfect blend of mystery and thriller. Can’t wait for the next one.

The Vanishing Kind by Alice Henderson is the fourth Alex Carter mystery, each covering research into a different endangered species. This one is set in New Mexico, where Alex is hoping to find jaguars and collar one. As she roams the different environs in her area, she finds an archeological dig, looking for lost treasure from a conquistador, white supremacist out to kill anyone they don't like, and of course a jaguar. I wanted to like this one as much as I have the previous ones, but her physical stamina seemed over drawn. The history and wildlife facts I learned were obviously well researched and interesting.