The Disappearing by Lori Roy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Content: Strong Language, Sexual Situations


When Lane Fielding fled her isolated Florida hometown after high school for the anonymity of New York City, she swore she'd never return. But twenty years later, newly divorced and with two daughters in tow, she finds herself living with her parents on the historic Fielding Plantation. Here, the past haunts her and the sinister crimes of her father--the former director of an infamous boys' school--make her as unwelcome in town as she was the day she left.

Lane's unsteady truce with the town is rattled when her older daughter suddenly vanishes. Ten days earlier, a college student went missing, and the two disappearances at first ignite fears that a serial killer who once preyed upon the town has returned. But when Lane's younger daughter admits to having made a new and unseemly friend, a desperate Lane attacks her hometown's facade to discover whether her daughter's disappearance is payback for her father's crimes--or for her own.

The Disappearing is a mystery set in a small town in Florida. In quite a few ways it reminded me of Secrets of Southern Girls. Both books share a protagonist who has left home and not been back for many years, and they both have secrets they are keeping about their pasts. Obviously this formula works well for me because I liked both books a lot. The Disappearing leaves out most of the salaciousness that permeated the other story though.

The mystery seemed pretty straight forward at first, but it ended up being more complicated than that. There was a point where I started suspecting what really happened, but it was a really nice twist anyway. The characters where all really well drawn and I especially liked Tally, the main character's 10 year old daughter, a lot. The ending fit the book well, and this appears to be a stand-alone, but there is room to write more if the author ever decides to. I wouldn't mind revisiting these characters just so the truth can come out about a certain someone. If you like stories about small southern towns, large southern mansions with sketchy pasts, and characters with secrets then you will probably like this book.

Thanks to Penguin Group and NetGalley for giving me an advanced copy of this book.