Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Until this book, I had never heard of Kendra Elliot. Vanished is my first Elliot read, and its #5 in her Bone Secrets series. It’s a testament to the author that the book worked perfectly well as a stand alone — I didn’t notice at all that I was jumping in in the middle of a series. Pick up this book and you’ll be immediately drawn into the action. A little girl has been abducted on her way to school, and the FBI is on the case, working closely with the family and a family connection who also happens to be a state Detective. Elliot does well imparting lots of information in a short amount of space. We’re introduced to the characters via their interactions with each other — no long backstories given or needed. The book opens at a tension level appropriate to the storyline, and it opens well. Unfortunately, Elliot can’t sustain the tension within the plot, and never seems to achieve it within the romance at all. Plot-wise, tension came and went in waves, with the lulls allowing (almost prompting) the reader to pull away from the story. I don’t want to look up at the clock when I’m reading, or notice page numbers. I want to be completely sucked in end to end, to finish a story at 4 am and say, “I have to get up in two hours, but damn, it was worth it!”. Reading this book, I looked at the clock at 9, said “I’ll give it another hour”, then looked at the clock at 9:45 and said, “OK, that’s good, I can call it a night.” Romance-wise, eh, pretty much a dud. Didn’t even feel a bit of a sizzle until page 95/335, and then it was more or less just the two protagonists noticing, rather clinically, that they found each other attractive. The romance proceeded as if it were on a schedule, and it left me lukewarm. I think my biggest overall problem with the book was that it only grazed the surface. The story is there, the characters are there, the romance is there, but none of it had a whole lot of depth. I feel like Elliot could have done so much more with her material — and maybe she will. This was an advance galley, so there’s still another round of edits before it hits the shelves. I really do hope she spices up the characters. There should be a crazy amount of stress in a situation like this. And stress should make people freak out — make them mean, or at least snippy. Make them turn on each other, blame each other. Even all around lose it — if only for a few minutes. Instead everyone is just so darn nice to each other and supportive of each other. Seriously, there were parts where I practically gagged on the Sunday School-ness of them all. The best idea the main character can come up with to get back at her boss for giving her a crappy detail is to hide his favorite coffee mug? Seriously? Verdict: I thought there was quite a bit of potential at the beginning, but by the end I was left wanting quite a bit more. 2/5