Karen Robards, Vanished

Vanished

Karen Robards

Putnam, Apr 2006, $24.95, 388 pp.

ISBN: 0399153381

Seven years ago, Sara Mason, now an Assistant District Attorney, the Acting Head of Major Crimes, let her five year old daughter Lexie go to a nearby table in the park to get a piece of cake. The child never returns to her mother, and there are no clues for the police to follow up on. Sara hires Jake, a private detective to search for her daughter, but he fails. Still they become friends, but Sara felt empty inside since Lexie vanished and wanted to die until, in the present, she almost does during a robbery.

Somebody is trying to make Sara believe her daughter is alive through some cruel incidents. Sara wonders if one of her enemies from amongst those she prosecuted or the Beaufort police Department are behind the threat to Lexie, as she currently works a rape case against two cops. Calls from Lexie occur and their safe word is written onto her car window. An unknown adversary is terrorizing Sara through Lexie, but she has no idea who or why. Jake, who loves her, vows to keep her safe and somehow find out who is terrorizing a mother who lost her child. Sara doesn't even know if her daughter is dead or alive.

Karen Robards has written an exciting romantic suspense about a woman needing closure to get on with her life, but instead seven mourning years later she finds more troubles and fears. The sexual tension between Jake and Sara is so hot that sparks fly off the pages. The story is told from the points of view of the lead couple, so the audience knows how the hero feels about his lady in distress. VANISHED is a haunting tale that grips readers from the moment Sara is shot, and never slows down until the final twist.

Harriet Klausner