The Vanishing Year
A Novel
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3.7 • 12 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A gripping psychological thriller filled with dark suspense and jaw-dropping twists, The Vanishing Year follows a woman whose dangerous secrets threaten to destroy her picture-perfect life.
“The Vanishing Year is a stunner. A perfectly compulsive read that's impossible to put down.” —Mary Kubica
“A chilling, powerful tale of nerve-shattering suspense.” —Heather Gudenkauf
Nominated for Best Mystery and Thriller by Goodreads Choice Awards 2016
Zoe Whittaker is living a charmed life. She is the beautiful young wife to handsome, charming Wall Street tycoon Henry Whittaker. She is a member of Manhattan’s social elite. She is on the board of one of the city’s most prestigious philanthropic organizations. She has a perfect Tribeca penthouse in the city and a gorgeous lake house in the country. The finest wine, the most up-to-date fashion, and the most luxurious vacations are all at her fingertips.
What no one knows is that five years ago, Zoe’s life was in danger. Back then, Zoe wasn’t Zoe at all. Now her secrets are coming back to haunt her.
As the past and present collide, Zoe must decide who she can trust before she—whoever she is—vanishes completely.
A “dark, twisty, edge-of-your-seat suspense” (Karen Robards), The Vanishing Year combines the classic sophistication of Ruth Rendell and A.S.A. Harrison with the thoroughly modern flair of Jessica Knoll. Told from the point-of-view of a heroine who is as relatable as she is enigmatic, The Vanishing Year is an unforgettable new novel by a rising star of the genre.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Zoe Whittaker, the narrator of this convoluted novel of suspense from bestseller Moretti (While You Were Gone), used to be Hilary Lawlor, a student who dropped out of college in California and turned to drug dealing in 2009 after her adoptive mother's death. Her testimony helped destroy a notorious sex-trafficking ring, but she fled across the country and changed her name before the perpetrators' trial. By 2014, she's married to Henry Whittaker, a controlling Manhattan businessman. After a college roommate recognizes her at a charity function, Zoe is nearly struck by a hit-and-run driver, and her apartment is ransacked. She concludes that one of the traffickers has found her and is trying to kill her, but perhaps she's mistaken. Zoe's blend of disloyalty to friends and naive trust in men with obviously sinister motives renders her unsympathetic at times. An implausible plot and chronological inconsistencies may also trouble some readers, but Moretti maintains a fast pace and creates a chillingly satisfying villain in suave, manipulative Henry.
