The Vanishing: A gripping psychological thriller full of twists and turns

by Gary Winston Brown

No one was ever supposed to see her again.Dr. Claire Prescott was raised in a life of privilege, the daughter of a loving mother and a prominent forensic psychiatrist in whose footsteps she has followed. Until the day she disappeared, her younger sister, Amanda, was her best friend, her shadow. Now Claire has been left with a hole in her heart and too many unanswered questions.Bestselling novelist Martin Belgrade remembers well the day he arrived home to find a strange van parked in his driveway and his infant daughter, Melanie, sitting on the kitchen floor, alone and crying. The blow from the unseen attacker rendered him unconscious, but it was waking to find his wife and daughter missing that nearly killed him.Years later, in a strange twist of fate, Claire and Martin’s lives have intersected, and the man who has stolen so much from them both has been identified.Now, together with a team of specially trained extraction experts, they must follow a deadly and dangerous path to find their missing loved ones; one that will lead them deep into the lair of a brilliant and calculating serial killer.The Vanishing is the first standalone thriller from Gary Winston Brown, author of the Jordan Quest, FBI mystery thriller series.If you like captivating suspense, breakneck pacing, and nonstop action and adventure, then you’ll love this edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller with a twist you won’t see coming.What readers are saying about The This has been the most nerve-racking, breath holding, and heart stopping book I've ever read. Amazon reader ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Read it in one setting, couldn’t put it down. Action packed, dramatic, and real. Amazon reader, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐I always enjoy reading books by Gary Winston Brown! They are action-packed thrillers that keep me wanting more. Always crisp and clean. Amazon reader ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

316 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 17, 2021

Reviews

[Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm sure Gary Winston Brown is a nice, well-meaning guy and I applaud his gumption and hard work in his writing. My guess is this was his first novel, and that it was originally self-published. At least it reads that way. This is going to sound a little harsh, but here are my unvarnished thoughts.
The story goes pretty straight from Point A to Point B to Point C. No roadblocks, detours or hurdles. And certainly no twists. Everyone that the main character bumps into is only too happy to help with no hesitation. Whatever happened to, "Go home, lady. Let the police handle this." ?
It's packed with tropes and cliches, right down to a guy dying just as he's about to provide the name of the bad guy. And you just know that, after being told several times to wait for everyone and don't do anything until we get there, that this person will go trundling off into the dark before they arrive.
Characters are thinly drawn with no complexity, and I don't feel like I knew anything about them by the end of the book. It seems at times that the Creative Writing instructor said to paint a picture of the scene. So we get -- seemingly out of nowhere --
"The evening was beautiful, and the ocean breeze wafting in from the Pacific possessed a serenity 'X' found relaxing and purifying. The muddy storm clouds that had threatened rain had long since dissipated. Twilight now dressed the sky with the radiant black hue of fine Japanese silk."
I've read a lot of thrillers from some excellent writers, so maybe my expectations are a little high. While it was a pleasant enough read, I didn't find it very "thrilling". Rather pedestrian.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

the story begins, it introduces the individual who kills Claire's parents. Claire's roommate represents an author and Kelly invites Claire to a party where she meets Martin. Martin is a person who writes about cults. Claire has Martin sign her book and as she is reading it later in her room she sees a picture of her sister who was abducted several years earlier. Martin also had a situation where both his wife and daughter were abducted. Martin agrees to help Claire search for her sister. As luck would have it, Martin established an organization that is aimed at getting people who have been part of a cult reunited with their families.

Martin brings Claire to the headquarters where she is introduced to the members of the group. Later that evening, another member of the organization returned and happened to recognize the girl in the picture as someone that she photographed two weeks earlier. This provided a starting point for their search.

The team split up with part of them checking the area where the picture was taken two weeks earlier and Martin and Claire went to another area to search. When Martin stopped at a gas station they ran into a trucker who had given the man in the picture with Amanda, Claire's sister, a ride. He led them to the location where he had dropped that person off.

Bentley, the truck driver, help them follow the path when they ran into trouble.

To discover what happened with Martin and Claire and how this area they were targeting also related to Martin's issue, then you must read this book.

[Gabriele Schickedanz · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great standalone novel by Gary Winston Brown! A thrilling plot that twists and turns until the very end. From the opening scene you know that things are not as they appear. I’ve been a fan of this author’s Jordan Quest series, and this novel is just as entertaining.

[Sandra Land · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!

Read in one setting couldnt put it down,action packed dramatic and real. Thank you for your writings.looking for the next one to read!