Bookworm: Vanished by Tim Weaver

Not a big fan of detective series I downloaded this book onto my Kindle and only then realised this was one of those stories – based around investigator David Raker.

As you know once I start a book though I can’t give up on it so I decided to still give this one a go and hope to be pleasantly surprised.

In fact I whizzed through this fictional tale and found myself unable to put it down, a real page turner, constantly making you want to find out more.

Vanished is actually the third in Weaver’s offering of thrillers, based around Raker this time we’re told he’s on the hunt for missing person Sam Wren. What starts as a seemingly tricky to solve missing person case (where the man seems to have just ‘vanished’ hence the book title) soon turns into a lot more.

If you’re not into all things gruesome, some of the descriptions may turn your tummy a tad. However, I soon found myself so engrossed in the story this wasn’t an issue and there isn’t gore for the sake of it, it does serve a purpose and help build up the characters and storyline.

I kept second guessing what was happening in this fictional piece and was convinced I’d got it all figured out early on (disappointed it was such a basic mystery to solve). How wrong I was. Weaver keeps the reader entertained with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing.

Due to the type of book this was (i.e. detective/investigator series) I was also shocked when I reached the end of this story – and disappointed to have finished. I won’t give away anymore as I don’t want to spoil the story for future readers.

I was also pleased to note that you didn’t need to have read other tales in the series to understand who Raker is and what he’s about, something that has aggravated me in other similar reads.

Good points
Real page turner
Keeps you gripped and guessing
Good descriptions of scenes so you can place yourself there and feel the fear too
Liked the references to London

Not so great
Felt the end seemed a bit abrupt
Some people might be bothered by the fact some of the London underground references were inaccurate and made up

In summary I really enjoyed this book, I’ve read a lot of comical short stories of late and this gritty, dark, thriller was a welcome and refreshing change and one I thoroughly enjoyed.