Book Review – Vanishing Girls by Lisa Regan

Vanishing Girls
Lisa Regan
ISBN-10: 1786812428
ISBN-13: 9781538734117
Publisher: Grand Central/Bookouture
Paperback: 334 pages
November 26, 2019, $12.99
Language: English
Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

BOOK BLURB 

This USA Today bestselling thriller is an utterly gripping crime story perfect for fans of Lisa Gardner and Karin Slaughter.

The little girl curled into a tiny ball as the chamber grew colder around her. “Please,” she whispered, rocking back and forth. “I want to go home.”

When Isabelle Coleman, a blonde, beautiful young girl goes missing, everyone from the small town of Denton joins the search. They can find no trace of the town’s darling, but Detective Josie Quinn finds another girl they didn’t even know was missing.

Mute and unresponsive, it’s clear this mysterious girl has been damaged beyond repair. All Josie can get from her is the name of a third girl and a flash of a neon tongue piercing that matches Isabelle’s.

The race is on to find Isabelle alive, and Josie fears there may be other girls in terrible danger. When the trail leads her to a cold case labeled a hoax by authorities, Josie begins to wonder is there anyone left she can trust?

Someone in this close-knit town is committing unspeakable crimes. Can Josie catch the killer before another victim loses their life?

REVIEW Josie is not your typical cop. She’s harsh and undisciplined, and at first I wondered how she managed to get a spot on a police force with her pattern of erratic behavior that not only pushes ethical boundaries, it smashes them.

Still, there was something about her that kept me reading.

She is the heroine of the story, so I wanted to see how she was going to solve the case and save the girl who had been taken. Some of the steps Josie takes stretches believably, and there are a lot of “coincidences” in this book that make some things that happen come across as a bit implausible.

And still there was something about Josie that kept me reading.

I thoroughly enjoyed her relationship with her grandmother, Lisette, who was a big part of Josie’s life after her father died. Mother took to the bottle in her grief, hardly able to care for a young child, and, finally, when Josie was fourteen, she got to live with her grandmother full time. Lisette seems to be the one person who can pull Josie back to center when she threatens to spin out of control.

Josie’s convoluted relationship with Ray, her childhood friend who became her husband, and a cop, too, took up too mush space in the story for my comfort. But then, perhaps other readers will like knowing more of the details of the romantic part of her life. Shorter and less frequent glimpses into the love-triangle comprised of Ray, Josie, and her new love, Luke, would have been enough for me.

But still, there was always something that kept me turning another page to see what was going to happen.

This is a story that is very dark at times and has a gritty edge to it. If that is the kind of mystery/suspense you like to read, you will enjoy Vanishing Girls.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR – Lisa Regan is the USA Today & Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Detective Josie Quinn series. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in English and Master of Education Degree from Bloomsburg University. She is a member of Sisters In Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Crime Writers’ Association, and International Thriller Writers. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband, daughter, and Boston Terrier named Mr. Phillip. You can find out more about Lisa and her books by visiting her WEBSITE

1 thought on “Book Review – Vanishing Girls by Lisa Regan”

  1. “She’s harsh and undisciplined, and…erratic.” You just unwittingly answered your own question. Those are the precisely the qualities which GET you a spot on a police force in America and NOT characteristics which disqualify you.

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