vanishedRating: 5 stars
Buy Links: 
 Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novella


When Henry Cooley wakes up one Monday morning and his husband Tom MacKinnon isn’t in bed, he doesn’t think anything of it. Tom goes out for an early run every day so they sometimes miss one another.  As Henry goes about his day, work is crazy and, when Tom still isn’t home that night, Henry figures things must be busy for Tom too.  But by the next day when Henry still hasn’t seen or heard from Tom, he begins to get very worried.

Henry is sure something must have happened to Tom. They have been happily married for 6 years and together for 21. They have raised a son and have good lives, even if both are a bit dissatisfied with their jobs.  There is no way Tom would have just walked away from their life. Something must have happened to him.

As Henry begins to search for Tom, however, things aren’t adding up.  Tom’s phone is no longer in service, weird things keep happening, and people are acting strangely around him. All Henry can do is try to hold off panic at what could have happened to the man he loves, because somehow Tom seems to have vanished.

OMG you guys! This book was so exciting, so suspenseful, I could not put it down and read it all in one sitting. I literally had to force myself not to flip pages ahead because I could not wait to see what was going to happen.   Carter Quinn has written an amazing thriller in Vanished and it kept me engaged for every moment.  I loved the way we never quite know what is happening and Quinn keeps the story running just ahead of us the whole time. I would keep thinking I was figuring out the mystery, only to realize I was on the wrong track yet again.  The story is just taut and filled with energy and so engaging.

The best part of it all is that throughout this incredibly suspenseful story, we have the love between Tom and Henry.  We can feel how wonderful their relationship is, how much Henry loves and adores Tom, and how much being with Tom is a part of his life.  We wouldn’t care nearly as much about Tom being missing if we didn’t see him through Henry’s eyes, or feel Henry’s pain as he tries to find his missing husband. While this is clearly not your typical romance story, I still could feel the love and the connection between these two men that gives the story so much heart.

So yes, this had me screaming at my kindle at the end, even though I knew going in that it was a cliffhanger and the first of a trilogy. And yep, the ending just blew me away. I know the final two books are coming out this spring, so we don’t have too much longer to wait, but seriously, I am dying to know what is going to happen.

Vanished is an incredible, suspenseful thriller combined with a lot of heart. It kept me frantically reading from start to finish without a break and I am so impressed by the way Quinn crafted this with so much tension and cleverness. So a fabulous story and I can not wait for the next two books. I definitely recommend this one highly.

Cover Review: This cover works perfectly for the novel. The fog totally captures the dark and twisty feel of the book, the bridge and the jogging are both part of the story, and the setting places us in San Francisco.  It is kind of hauntingly beautiful and a great fit for the book.

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