The Vanishing by Wendy Webb

The Vanishing by Wendy Webb

My Rating: ★★★

Newly widowed, Julie Bishop just discovered that her fairytale life was nothing but a scam because her late husband duped her just as he did the many people he scammed out of every cent they had. She's barely hanging on by a thread when a mysterious man appears at her doorstep and offers her the chance at starting over. The catch? All she has to do is leave everything behind and live at Havenwood as his mother's companion. However, the longer she stays at Havenwood, the more she realizes the huge mistake she's made.

Julia's extremely naive and it's clear that she's an unreliable narrator from the beginning. I don't know about you, but I would be extremely suspicious if someone appeared and offered something that was too good to be true, especially if that person was a stranger. However, like I said, Julia's an unreliable narrator and she doesn't have anything to lose anyway, so she takes this man up on his offer. Personally, I find unreliable narrators more interesting to follow because we have to question their perspective. It adds an extra layer to the story that is being told. Many of the characters are directly linked to the estate's home, such as Drew, who clearly knows Julie even if she doesn't know him yet. I especially enjoyed Amaris Sinclair. She's such a vibrant character that I wouldn't mind hanging out with.

The narration does get repetitive, especially when Julia is faced with something she questions. If you can get past this, you'll enjoy the story. It's also easy to piece together most of what's going on, but the things left unanswered still pack a punch when they're revealed. I found myself glued to the pages and wondering when Julia was going to start piecing things together while enjoying the story. It's well written and has me looking forward to reading other work from Webb. If you're on the market for a ghost story, but you don't want anything that will have you sleeping with the lights on, this is the book for you.