Vanished

By: Karen Robards

Narrated by: Joyce Bean

Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Seven years ago, Sarah Mason's five-year-old daughter vanished during an outing at a park in Beaufort, South Carolina. Despite a frantic search, little Lexie was never found, and Sarah was left to pick up the pieces of her shattered life and go on the best she could.

Then, one hot August night, Sarah comes home to hear the phone ringing. When she picks it up, a child's terrified voice whispers, "Mommy, help, come and get me . . ." The call is cut off, but not before Sarah's heart goes into overdrive: she is sure the voice belonged to Lexie. Five-year-old Lexie. Though seven years have passed, she sounds exactly the same.

Frantic, Sarah turns to the police, the FBI, and her co-workers at the County Prosecutor's office, none of whom takes the call seriously. The only person she can count on to help her is Jake Hogan, her closest friend in the world, the man who has provided a strong shoulder for her to lean on throughout the long search. A former FBI agent, Jake is now a P.I., and though he is skeptical about the authenticity of the call, the attraction he feels for Sarah pushes him to help her. He is convinced someone is deliberately tormenting the grief-stricken mother.

Their long friendship explodes into a romance as they try to figure out who, and why - and what happened to Lexie. When the torment escalates to murder, Jake is the only one who can keep Sarah safe. Together, they are caught up in a nightmare search for Lexie that just might end with Sarah's death.

©2006 Karen Robards (P)2006 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Too stupid to live

I usually love this author but the heroine in this book was just annoying. Someone is trying to kill you so you go off by yourself with your cellphone in the trunk of your car. Seriously stupid.

One of Karen's BEST!!!!! Excellent story, narrator

The narrator did a FANTASTIC job telling this story! Surprise at the end! TERRIFIC LISTEN!!!!!

Could have been so much better!!

I never write reviews even on books I love. However this book was such a huge disappointment! Parts of the book were gripping but the story was very inconsistent! The ending was unbelievable and fell short of any kind of real explanation!

Review

There was explicit sex in this story. I would not have purchased it if I had known. I do not like or enjoy it. The story was good and the reading of the book was good. I will not probably buy any more books by Karen Robards if I have to listen (really I try to skip it because it is so distasteful to me) to such things.

Too many details

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I find myself wanting to get it over with...

What was most disappointing about Karen Robards’s story?

The main charachter Sarah with her emotions...I understand how she would be upset but it was just never ending back and forth. Too many details made the story really drag.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Joyce Bean?

Yes...she did horrible with the male voices...I agree with another listener when she said it sounded like a old woman who was a chain smoker instead of a sexy PI.

Was Vanished: A Novel worth the listening time?

It wasn't bad but I probably won't listen to it again.

Increadible ending

Any additional comments?

There were a few places where information was repeated, but the overall story was great. The ending was fantastic! Hair standing on end, thrilling!

Wow - what a plot line!

I loved this one - helped me get my steps in each day despite the winter weather!

Great read!

The story of a mom who can't give up on her missing daughter was one that caught my attention from the beginning. Narrator Joyce Bean did a good job on this. My only complaint is that the story is resolved too quickly. The whys are answered over lots of pages and all of a sudden, here's the end. It's almost as if an editor decided the book was getting too long and had the conclusion down to a few pages.

Needed a good editor

I managed to finish the book but became very frustrated with how much time was spent with the heroine. I can certainly understand how mentally anguished she was, but I got a bit tired of it and some of the very unwise actions she took. The ending was certainly abrupt.

Great listen

This is the first book I listened to by Karen Robards and I couldn't put it down. A credit well spent. I will definitely buy more from her library.