The Vanishing Season: A Mystery

by Joanna Schaffhausen Narrated by Lauren Fortgang

Overview

Ellery Hathaway knows a thing or two about serial killers, but not through her police training. She's an officer in sleepy Woodbury, Massachusetts, where a bicycle theft still makes the newspapers. No one there knows she was once victim number seventeen in the grisly story of serial killer Francis Michael Coben. The only victim who lived.

When three people disappear from her town in three years, all around her birthday-the day she was kidnapped so long ago-Ellery fears someone knows her secret. Someone very dangerous. Her superiors dismiss her concerns, but Ellery knows the vanishing season is coming and anyone could be next. She contacts the one man she knows will believe her: the FBI agent who saved her from a killer's closet all those years ago.

Agent Reed Markham made his name and fame on the back of the Coben case, but his fortunes have since turned. His marriage is in shambles, his bosses think he's washed up, and worst of all, he blew a major investigation. When Ellery calls him, he can't help but wonder: sure, he rescued her, but was she ever truly saved? His greatest triumph is Ellery's waking nightmare, and now both of them are about to be sucked into the past, back to the case that made them ... with a killer who can't let go.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"[A] stunning debut. Schaffhausen devises a clever storyline, complete with an ingenious pattern, a skillful piece of misdirection and a conclusion that simultaneously troubles and satisfies." —The Richmond-Times Dispatch

"A gripping and powerful read. It is what we call an edge-of-your-seat, rollercoaster of a thriller. You will not be able to put it down before you finish it."—The Washington Book Review

"Poignant and gripping...Schaffhausen keeps the fresh plot of The Vanishing Season churning without resorting to cliches. Believable and flawed characters enhance the realistic twists, down to the denouement. Ellery should be able to support a long-running series.—The Philadelphia Inquirer

“The Vanishing Season won the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Novel Competition. Given the precise prose, the suspenseful plot and the emotionally tortured characters, to say nothing of an irresistible basset hound named Bump, it’s easy to see why.”—Associated Press

“Crime fanatics and mystery lovers will love this story. Schaffhausen really nails the genre and the character development beautifully.”—Huffington Post

"Powerful...the complex plot and affecting characters—especially gritty survivor Ellie and her basset hound, Bump—make for some nail-bitingly tense thrills." —Publishers Weekly

"Schaffhausen’s debut is a fantastic, convoluted thriller that will have her audience on the edge of their seats, taking notes to catch every crumb of a clue. Ellery and Reed, her protagonists, are complex yet brilliantly believable, competent yet very imperfectly human.The villain is both evil and cunning. The storytelling is exceptional and the dialogue is powerful. This chilling tale will have readers guessing till the end! This one is sure to end upon the bestseller list." —RT Book Reviews

“Joanna Schaffhausen’s The Vanishing Season is a gripping debut with a plot twist readers won’t see coming. The main character, Ellery Hathaway, is a survivor whose grace, intelligence, and grit reminded me of Clarice Starling.”—HALLIE EPHRON, author of Night Night, Sleep Tight

"Dark, disturbing, and relentlessly sinister—this intense thriller plumbs the darkest corners of terror, survival and psychological damage. Be warned: leave on the light! But start reading right now."—HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN

"The Vanishing Season introduces small-town police detective Ellery Hathaway, a former child victim of an infamous sadistic psychopath. While attempting to hide the scars of past trauma, Ellery must hunt a terrifying serial killer whose methods eerily echo her former abuser’s. Is she next on his list? Schaffhausen does equal justice to Ellery’s inner and outer struggles as she keeps the plot twists coming in this gripping, compulsively readable debut. Be prepared to lose sleep."—ELISABETH ELO, author of North of Boston

"A twisted story with an unforgettable protagonist and a drop-book-in-lap, sneaky twist that will make you say WOW!"—SHANNON KIRK, author of Method 15/33

Library Journal

11/01/2017
On her 14th birthday, Abigail Hathaway became the 17th young woman abducted by notorious serial killer Frances Coben and the only one to survive. Fourteen years later, Hathaway—using her middle name, Ellery, to hide her past—is a cop in a small Connecticut town who's concerned about the disappearances of three people over the past three summers. At the same time, she's been receiving anonymous cards on her birthday. Unable to arouse her police chief's concern without revealing her past, Hathaway calls FBI agent Reed Markham, who rescued her from Coben. Markham is currently on leave after botching a case, as well as having troubles at home, but he responds to her request for assistance. Together, they dig into the missing-persons cases that seem to center on her, wondering if a copycat serial killer is at work. VERDICT Winner of the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition, this debut thriller occasionally strains credulity, notably in Hathaway's keeping her past hidden, and seasoned mystery readers are likely to spot the perpetrator before she and Markham do. Still, it's a nice diversion for readers with a taste for serial killers. [See Prepub Alert, 6/12/17.]—Michele Leber, Arlington, VA

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169917130
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	12/05/2017
Series:	Ellery Hathaway , #1
Edition description:	Unabridged

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