My rating:
add to my books
Loading...
Vanished
Seven years after her five-year-old daughter, Lexie, vanished, Sarah Mason comes home on a hot August night to hear the phone ringing. She picks up, and a terrified voice begs for her help - a voice that sounds exactly like Lexie's.
When the police, the FBI, and her coworkers at the county prosecutor's office don't take Sarah seriously, she turns to her closest...more
When the police, the FBI, and her coworkers at the county prosecutor's office don't take Sarah seriously, she turns to her closest...more
Published
(first published December 31st 1999)
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
1,335)
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Great story, but with some issues, November 19, 2008
What a great story line. Sarah tries to move on with her life after the abduction of her daughter 7 years before. She's a very broken, lonely woman, who has no friends or family to speak of, other than her best friend Jake.
The character of Sarah did have some very redeeming qualities, but seemed to be just a bit to fragile and unglued for most of the story. While the circumstances warrant it, you find it hard to understand w...more
What a great story line. Sarah tries to move on with her life after the abduction of her daughter 7 years before. She's a very broken, lonely woman, who has no friends or family to speak of, other than her best friend Jake.
The character of Sarah did have some very redeeming qualities, but seemed to be just a bit to fragile and unglued for most of the story. While the circumstances warrant it, you find it hard to understand w...more
view 1 comment
Prosecuting attorney is piecing together with her best friend & private investigator Hero the coincidental timing of her being shot during a convenience-store robbery & getting a strange phone call the next day from what sounded like her 5yo daughter who vanished 7 years earlier. Hero does his best to protect heroine from further danger but heroine wants to keep busy with her court cases & renewed search for her long lost daughter. He realizes how strongly he cares for her while she is still obl...more
This was unexpected. I normally read Karen Robards for fluffy, brainless excitement. The books are well written, move quickly, involve a lot of danger, plenty of sexy romance with interchangeable characters, and are consistent 3-star books. I can count on that.
Then I read this one. And, well, it was really good.
So Sarah lost her daughter, Lexie, seven years ago. The girl just vanished without a trace (hence the name of the book). All these years later, she is stil...more
Then I read this one. And, well, it was really good.
So Sarah lost her daughter, Lexie, seven years ago. The girl just vanished without a trace (hence the name of the book). All these years later, she is stil...more
This book started off promisingly. I liked the characters and was interested in their lives. I liked the friendship between Jake and Sarah and how it's not obvious at first whether Jake is the hero or not. I thought the author did a very good job portraying Sarah's pain and how vivid it still is even seven years after her daughter's disappearance. Eventually, though, the book began to seem a little repetitive to me. How many times does the reader need to be told that Jake's shoulders are wide, t...more
This is the third book I read by Robards, and the only reason I read it was because it was the only library book left in my house when I finished the last. The first one I really liked, the second one was catchy, but annoying, and this one was somewhere in between. I think it will probably be the last Robards novel I read.
The good: starts off strong. It seems that Robards begins her novels with an intense and violent scene that hooks the reader. The thriller and mystery aspects k...more
The good: starts off strong. It seems that Robards begins her novels with an intense and violent scene that hooks the reader. The thriller and mystery aspects k...more
Technically, I didn't read this book, I listened to it. I needed something for the lonely, nothing-to-see drive home to Jesup over Christmas and found this and decided to go with it. It's kind of a mystery/love story book. It was good, not great. It was a bit longer than my normal audio books, but it was entertaining - so entertaining that I missed one of my turns on the way home. There was a lot of fluff and stuff I could do without, but if you ever need something to just lightly listen to...more
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
I really enjoyed the book and gave it five stars for its characters, plot, and the twist at the end. I did have some issues with it however:
1. The author's overuse of the phrase "the thing was..." The author used this phrase so many times that I started to wonder if she was capable of getting across what she was trying to say in any other way. A little vari...more
I really enjoyed the book and gave it five stars for its characters, plot, and the twist at the end. I did have some issues with it however:
1. The author's overuse of the phrase "the thing was..." The author used this phrase so many times that I started to wonder if she was capable of getting across what she was trying to say in any other way. A little vari...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Karen Robards is a softer, sweeter Sandra Brown for me. But here she's showing a bit of bite. We've got a suspense story with...a bit of suspense. But that's not what grabbed hold of my attention. It was the absolute gut wrenching account of Sarah Mason coping with her missing daughter. As a parent, I got it. I ached. I understood the inability to reconnect to the present time. The wondering. Is she out there? Is she cold? Hungry? How can I eat when I don't know if she has? It was beautiful in i...more
This book started out pretty well- it's a mystery- this woman starts getting messages from her daughter that went missing 7 years earlier. At times I couldn't put the book down, and other times it was a little boring. The end felt a little rushed though. I don't like it when everything happens in the last three pages. I felt that it was all wrapped up a little too neatly.
This is a complicated review because I liked this book and I don't think anyone should skip it because of my review, but I had some issues. I have to say that I was enthralled with this book from the beginning, but......somewhere around the last 100 pages it started to take a nosedive. (NOTE: THE REST OF MY REVIEW MIGHT SPOIL THE STORY IF YOU PLAN TO READ THIS BOOK, SO STOP HERE!)
Sarah and Jake have been best friends for years and she has NEVER thought of him as "sexy"...more
Sarah and Jake have been best friends for years and she has NEVER thought of him as "sexy"...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
favorite line:
"fool, he told himself. because that's what he'd always privately thought about men who hankered after women who didn't want them. he'd seen plenty of them in the course of his work as a private investigator, men in the throes of divorce who were still in love with their wives, other men who couldn't believe that the cutie they were canoodling with was just after their money or was canoodling with somebody else on the side, all sorts of lovesick idiots making thems...more
"fool, he told himself. because that's what he'd always privately thought about men who hankered after women who didn't want them. he'd seen plenty of them in the course of his work as a private investigator, men in the throes of divorce who were still in love with their wives, other men who couldn't believe that the cutie they were canoodling with was just after their money or was canoodling with somebody else on the side, all sorts of lovesick idiots making thems...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Fast-moving book. Well-developed characters. Surprise twist at end about the judge. Too pat about Sarah's daughter being found and returned. After being a "wife" at age 12, there will be a host of troubles to deal with there. Lot of dwelling of the inner turmoil of Lexie's disappearance seven years ago. One would have thought it wouldn't seem quite so fresh. But all the pieces fit nicely together, although in a very short timespan of a few days. Sarah recovered too quickly from being s...more
Vanished by Karen Robards
This is book was a tragic book about missing children. It tells a story of a woman whose child went missing for some 18 years and she never knew what happened to her. Parents all over the world are having children abducted - some have been found, some have been murdered and many of them have never been found. This woman becomes involved with another family whose child is abducted and eventually finds out what happened to her child. The sad truth to all th...more
This is book was a tragic book about missing children. It tells a story of a woman whose child went missing for some 18 years and she never knew what happened to her. Parents all over the world are having children abducted - some have been found, some have been murdered and many of them have never been found. This woman becomes involved with another family whose child is abducted and eventually finds out what happened to her child. The sad truth to all th...more
This was my first Robards book. Though I did enjoy the story and as a mother I felt Sarah's pain this book was way too wordy...the story could've been told just as effectively in about 50 fewer pages. The story itself brings forth a lot of emotions and did make me cry. However, when Lexie's fate was revealed I thought I was going to vomit. I just couldn't believe that the writer went "there" even though she didn't give details about it, it doesn't take a genius to put 2 and 2 together....more
I liked it just fine, and would have probably given it 3 stars... until the end. It was, on all counts, a truly unsatisfying ending.
(view spoiler)...more
(view spoiler)...more
This book was quite a disappointment. The premise held such promise and it should have been a suspenseful, intriguing story. Instead, it focused on the angst of the heroine, Sarah Mason for better than half the book. Descriptions of irrelevant details were made in 500 words when 50 would have sufficed. There was so much repetition I could almost recite some of the passages by rote. Yes, the ending was rushed because so much of the book was wasted on telling us ad nauseum of Sarah's pain. Quite f...more
Good read
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I really enjoyed the relationship between the two main characters. The books starts with them already friends, with a long history of companionship, and the narrative really carries the relationship. Karen Robards does a terrific job with suspense. She must get some pleasure out of torturing her characters, because they go through a lot! I would have given this book five stars, but I felt the ending was a little rushed. A good read!
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
When I finished this book, reading non-stop to find out what happened next, I was stunned. There is no other word for it. I sat there thinking, "Wow!", for long minutes before I could get back to reality and move again. It's a fantastic story from a fantastic writer, and it will take you out of your life into Sarah's without letting you back into yours until you finish.
I honestly just picked this book up in the library without knowing a lot about the story or the author (I know, long story) - but I really liked the story line. There was quite a few cuss words, which was the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars. It was funny, suspenseful, and I felt like the author made Sara very real. It was like I knew her.
I quite enjoyed this book. I would have liked to know how the characters handled the aftermath of the events that had transpired in the final part of the book. It felt as if there should be a sequel. Also, I'm not exactly sure how to categorize this book. It seemed more of a mystery/suspense/thriller with a dash of romance.
I like this author but find that she has the same style of writing throughout all of her books. Basically there is the good guy who is usually a cop that has to protect some woman and they fall in love... the end. The first couple of hers I enjoyed though. There is an intimate scene also if that makes people uncomfortable.
I can't begin to imagine what it would be like to lose a child. To have her taken from you when you turn your back in a park. The struggle and pain Sara goes through with her best friend Jake with someone terrorizing her about her past made for an amazing, emotional, stomach churning read. All the twists and turns kept me glued to this until the shocking end. Fantastic book. Keep tissues handy.
Some books afford more than a glimpse into their heroine's life, but this is not one of them. This novel is a carefully contained slice of the tortured existence of a mother who lost her daughter to a kidnapper seven years earlier, and her relationship with her best friend, a man who loves her.
I enjoyed the 'mystery lite' story and actually found myself thinking about it when I wasn't reading, which is unusual... but didn't appreciate the abrupt ending.
There is nothing r...more
I enjoyed the 'mystery lite' story and actually found myself thinking about it when I wasn't reading, which is unusual... but didn't appreciate the abrupt ending.
There is nothing r...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Readers Also Enjoyed
Karen Robards (born about 1957) is a best-selling author of over thirty romance novels. After first gaining recognition for her historical romances, Robards became one of the first historical romance novelists to successfully make the switch to contemporary romantic fiction. Her work has been translated into eleven languages, and has won awards from both Romantic Times and Affaire de Coeur.
...more
More about Karen Robards...
...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
