Vanishing Act

By: Thomas Perry

Narrated by: Joyce Bean

Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

Jane Whitefield is a Native American guide who leads solitary outcasts through hostile territory to escape the vengeance of their enemies. But the shaded forest paths her Seneca ancestors might have followed on such missions have all been converted to superhighways, and now the safest way stations are crowded urban buildings that offer the camouflage of anonymity. Still, the supply of runaways - and the need for a woman who will take great risks to save them - have never been greater.

Jane knows all the tricks; in fact, she has invented several of them herself in the ten years she has been teaching fugitives to live with new identities. Many of her clients have been innocent people whom the institutions of society have been too slow and cumbersome to protect, but an increasing number have been like the gambler Harry Kemple: people who aren't especially admirable but who aren't bad enough to deserve to die prematurely.

Jane opens her door to find in her house an uninvited visitor named John Felker, the latest to run to her for sanctuary. Felker is not like the others Jane has helped, and everything about him is disquieting. He doesn't even know whom he is running from - only that whoever is framing him as an embezzler has already circulated an open contract in the prison system for his death. Maybe his problems began years ago, when he was a policeman; a good cop makes an enemy with each arrest. But perhaps he is still a policeman and has invented precisely the right story to entrap Jane. Or perhaps he is something even worse.

The unexpected guest draws this exceptional woman into an adventure of mystery, love and sacrifice, betrayal and vengeance, and propels her on a pursuit that takes her from the night streets of Los Angeles and Vancouver to the dark, unexplored regions of her own mind.

©2008 Thomas Perry (P)2009 Tantor

I'm hooked.

I love this series. You should start here because it's nice to have order but each book is a stand alone and explains about Jane and her past. Great series.

Bad audio editing toward the end

In the last few chapters, the audio editing is awful. The narrator repeats herself at least five times to get the infection of certain lines right, and the editors completely missed it. It really brings the listener out of the story.

A great introduction to a series

This was a well crafted entertaining book and I will gladly continue the journey forward.

Enjoyable ride

Really enjoyed this book. Didn't foresee where it went half way through but it made for an exciting ride. Definitely recommend it.

Read it twice!

This book was so enjoyable and the twist and turns had me never once guess what Jane's next move was going to be!

Wanted to shake the narrator

It's not the narrator's fault but I saw the plot twist coming far too early.

Different

This book was different than most I have read I. This category. I enjoyed the book and Joan to read others by this author. The characters were described in such a manner that I could visualize them in my mind.

The Book - 4 Stars; Narration - 3 Stars

My gripes first - the second half of the book is marred by sloppy auditory editing. Sections are repeated which detracts from being engrossed in the tale. The narrator, Joyce Bean, barely makes my score of average; her reading is pretty flat. Now on to the good stuff - the book itself. I read this one as a response to Audible's offer of affordable first-books-in-a-series. I'd probably never have read a Thomas Perry novel had it not been for the opportunity offered at a discount price. That said - I will be reading the next Jane Whitefield novel in the series. I found the protagonist interesting, although not terribly believable, but it is fiction after all. I don't have to think everything that happens in a novel actually could happen in real life. That's part of the entertainment. Give this book a try if you're looking for something a little different than the typical mystery - and if you like your main character to be a capable woman.

OUTSTANDING!

First book I've read in this series & I am hooked completely. Very believable account of this character. More, please.

Jane Whitefield appears!

What a great listen! Love that it segues into the next story! Thomas Perry doesn't disappoint! Can't wait to start the next one!