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Paul Lucas #2

Verschwunden

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An einem brütend heißen Sommertag verschwindet in einem Bostoner Park ein achtjähriges Mädchen. Als der Gerichtspsychiater Paul Lucas von den Ermittlern zu Hilfe gerufen wird, beginnt für ihn ein Alptraum: Er weiß, dass ihm nicht viel Zeit bleibt, denn bei der enormen Hitze wird das Mädchen ohne Wasser nach 24 Stunden tot sein. Aber die Zeugenbefragung gestaltet sich schwierig, und die Polizeiführung will baldige Erfolge sehen. Die Spur führt zu Arthur Hodges, und der Verdacht gegen den pensionierten Ingenieur erhärtet sich immer mehr. Doch der Tatverdächtige ist eiskalt und mit den üblichen Verhörmethoden nicht zu überführen. Unvermittelt sieht sich Paul vor die Wahl gestellt, entweder das Gesetz zu brechen oder zu scheitern …

411 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

6 people are currently reading
124 people want to read

About the author

Roderick Anscombe

16 books13 followers

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5 stars
23 (16%)
4 stars
34 (24%)
3 stars
54 (38%)
2 stars
23 (16%)
1 star
7 (4%)
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
18 reviews
May 14, 2025
This book was different than my typical reads. I like how it was written by a forensic psychiatrist which gave it a different feel.
TW: references to child sexual abuse material, descriptions of prisoner abuse
Profile Image for Raymond.
98 reviews
December 13, 2010
Interesting premise, and the tension between man and wife and the question of Principle and Pragmatism which arises between them well presented.

Unfortunately, the author chose an hour by hour unfolding of the story which becomes tedious long before the conclusion
Profile Image for Justine.
20 reviews
September 6, 2021
Das Buch war ... okay. Es ist jetzt 2 Tage her, dass ich „Verschwunden“ beendet hatte und ich musste erst mal darüber nachdenken, was überhaupt geschehen ist. Genau wie im ersten Buch hat mich die Beziehung zwischen Dr. Lucas und seiner Frau eher genervt und ich wurde nicht so richtig mit den Charakteren warm (was sich auch jetzt nicht geändert hat). Die Storyline war okay, erst gings mir allerdings alles zu langsam und die ganzen „wichtigen“ Dinge wurden so ins Ende gepresst, dass mir das Ganze schon wieder zu lang vorkam.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
59 reviews
July 21, 2023
Ich finde eine 3,33 nicht unbedingt gerechtfertigt. Das Buch ist ein absolut kurzweiliger Thriller, der einen gern auch mal festhält. Ich mag vorallem die Aspekte der Kommunikation und Informationsgewinnung auf verschiedene Weisen. Ich war zeitweise tatsächlich sehr fasziniert vom tieferen Einblick in das Thema Verhör. 4 Sterne von mir mit Leseempfehlung 👍
Profile Image for Lee.
152 reviews4 followers
March 22, 2021
Okay. Good writing, but too much forensic psychology and not enough action/suspense. Not a memorable book.
Profile Image for Bob.
132 reviews
May 18, 2024
This book was rather engrossing, and Anscombe has a nice prose style. But the morally questionable actions of his protagonist, which the author mostly chose not to explore, put me off.
47 reviews1 follower
July 21, 2011
This was an ok book. It was boring compared to the first one, very disappointing. i wouldn't recommend it to people who read the first one.


This book was about Dr. Lucas, a forensics Physchatrist, who got called in by his wife, Abby, to come interview suspects of danielle's kidnapping. Danielle is a 8 year old girl who was told to go pick up coffee then went into a van and wasn't seen afterwards. The suspects are Arthur and Dave. Dave works at the coffee/ donut shop where she picked the coffee up and he lives with his mother. Arthur cleaned his van from prints and swept it clean and he lives with his wife who is in a wheelchair. Both of them were found guilty of working together to kidnap her. At the end, Dr. lucas was faced with the choice of torturing them to find out where the girl was or to keep his morals. In the end, they answered him without getting tortured and he kept his morals

i wouldn't recommend this book ,but i like this author so i would recommend his first book "The interview room"
Profile Image for Daphne.
1,300 reviews50 followers
June 9, 2015

Kind of interesting but only because I wanted to know what happened to the girl, the main character didn't interest me at all and I couldn't care less about his struggles with his wife. I didn't realize it was the second book in a series until I had already started, a few of the references to the first story felt distracting and out of place because they had little to do with the plot of this book. I also wish the ending had been somewhat less abrupt and more satisfying. I'm not eager to read more of this series.
Profile Image for JNY.
91 reviews3 followers
October 19, 2016

Na het "Het Leugenspel" gelezen te hebben was ik wel benieuwd naar het vervolg. Maar dat is me eigenlijk behoorlijk tegengevallen.. Niks psychologisch aan dit boek. Het is al gauw duidelijk wie erachter zit. Ook de arrogantie van Paul begint me te storen in dit boek. Ja we weten het.. Hij is geweldig. Zo geweldig dat hij bereid is om zijn verdachten te willen martelen. Wat ik ook vreemd vond is dat zijn vrouw (die eigenlijk vrij weinig van hem wil weten) maar al te graag wil dat hij mensen gaat martelen.

Conclusie: Ik vond het een raar boek.
Niet aan te raden.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Sadie.
40 reviews5 followers
February 19, 2008
You know how you're at the library and you grab a book you wouldn't normally read but you think, hey, I have a dr.'s appt soon, and this will be just the thing to read; I can breeze through it, be entertained and no harm done? Well, that's why I checked out this book. Yeah, it's a quick read but even though its written by an expert, I found it to be insulting to my intelligence and to people everywhere with half a brain.
Profile Image for Christen.
385 reviews
August 7, 2007
Ok book for the train if you read through books quickly. Fast-paced, easy and quick read. Somewhat abrubt ending, but interesting story throughout. The book is about a kidnapping and is told by a criminal profiler, so don't let the title deceive you.
Profile Image for Lisa Greer.
Author 73 books94 followers
February 22, 2009
My gosh, Anscombe is a gripping, talented writer. If you are interested in abornal psych, his is THE king of it from all that I've read in recent years. He also has the cred. to back it up. I learn so much when I read his books, and they are like a wild ride... with lots of humanity and heart.
43 reviews4 followers
November 4, 2012
I really liked this book, and thought it was thrilling. It made you think a bit about how police use thief own ways of getting information. I read this book before the first one and actually liked this one better, even if I didn't get the references back to the first book as I read this one.
Profile Image for Amy.
113 reviews3 followers
April 6, 2014
I really enjoyed this book - it's among my favorites that I've read lately and I'm really looking forward to reading more of Anscombe's works. I'm fascinated by deception detection and found this story truly engaging; it was well-paced, with such an interesting exploration of professional ethics.
Profile Image for Tiffany.
2 reviews1 follower
January 29, 2017
This book was alright. It focuses more on the mindset of the main character more than the missing child. She basically becomes an afterthought. I found the book anticlimactic. It went from good to better to really rather dull. It's like the last chapter was written in a hurry.
Profile Image for Jacqui.
105 reviews
July 29, 2008
Absolutely loved it. Cannot wait to read his 1st novel.
Profile Image for Gabrielle.
45 reviews23 followers
July 2, 2009
Spoiler alert!!!

This makes you question what you believe about using torture as a means to obtain information.
Profile Image for Eleanor.
294 reviews
October 29, 2009
This is actually a very good psycho-thriller ... It dragged
in some spots, which is why I only gave it a 3 ..
Profile Image for Miriam.
9 reviews
March 9, 2011
What would you do in the name of justice? not the law, mind you, but justice. Would you cross the line of your principles to save a life? Does the end justify the means?
Profile Image for Kirakori.
65 reviews9 followers
Read
July 28, 2011
windwinded. shut up & get to the job dude!
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews

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