The Vanishing Point

By: Val McDermid

Narrated by: Antonia Beamish

One of the finest crime authors we have, Val McDermid’s heart-stopping thrillers have won her international renown and a devoted following of fans worldwide. In The Vanishing Point, she kicks off a terrifying thriller with a nightmare scenario: a parent who loses her child in a bustling international airport. Young Jimmy Higgins is snatched from an airport security checkpoint while his guardian watches helplessly from the glass inspection box. But this is no ordinary abduction, as Jimmy is no ordinary child. His mother was Scarlett, a reality TV star who, dying of cancer and alienated from her unreliable family, entrusted the boy to the person she believed best able to give him a happy, stable life: her ghost writer, Stephanie Harker. Assisting the FBI in their attempt to recover the missing boy, Stephanie reaches into the past to uncover the motive for the abduction. Has Jimmy been taken by his own relatives? Is Stephanie’s obsessive ex-lover trying to teach her a lesson? Has one of Scarlett’s stalkers come back to haunt them all? A powerful, grippingly-plotted thriller that will keep listeners on the edge of their seats until the end, The Vanishing Point showcases McDermid at the height of her talent.

©2012 Val McDermid (P)2012 W.F. Howes

Who said what?

An interesting average story. With an explanation for each twist and turn. An unexpected finale.

I had some challenges discerning some of the characters during my listening. I often questioned who said what. Not a bad reader, but in this particular book, the subtleties of each character's voice were often lost.

It's definitely not a must-read book.

Good story

Had a nice surprise ending. The story moved nicely and kept your interest. I enjoyed it.

Wow

I was coming around to thinking Stephanie was going to do something but…. That was not on my radar!

Great Book except for the last 10 minutes

Great story. Interesting style. Nice twists. In the last 10 minutes this one goes in the toilet. My advice: In the last chapter, once the front door is opened and the characters identified, stop listening. Had I done so this book would get all 5's.

It was slow

I did not really enjoy this it was very slow and I did not really like any of the characters.I continued to listen because I guessed the end, and I wanted to see if my totally way out theory was right, which it was. Quite honestly the end became a farce of disbelief.

So close to being great

I was really into this book. The author did a great job of developing the characters and making me interested in them. The problem for me was that the ending didn't match my expectations from the rest of the book. There is a lot I would like to write about the ending, to explain why it was disappointing to me, but I don't want to spoil it for others. It's also possible the ending will be perfect for certain readers; it just didn't do it for me.

I would still recommend this book to others. McDermid's style of writing was captivating, and the story was fresh, unlike anything else I've read.

Mixed bag

Parts of this story were so smartly written and enjoyable like the main character development and intertwining relationships. However, other parts just seemed entirely ridiculous.

The first chapter put me off and made me think the author was lazy for not having done research, but then I became engrossed in the unveiling of the story. The way it was piecemealed didn't flow, but when the history took over and you could forget it was supposed to be a narrative/interview it was very engaging.

The end was right there, predictable, but not in a bad way. Then the culmination was ridiculous! Ridiculous!

Still I enjoyed it, just wished the writing had been more consistent.

98% of book is good - leave the last bit behind

Wish I had read the other reviews, before the book, and not listened to the last 10 min or so. In total agreement with reviewers about the unsatisfying final ending.

Overall a good plot, well defined characters, great interaction and dialog between them.

Advice I agree with: when they are on the porch and front door opened - just stop. Make up your own resolution.

More interesting than I expected

The synopsis sounded dull, particularly because I have no interest in reality TV, but this book was up to Val McDermid's standards. Very character-driven, but with plenty of plot twists. I expect a lot from Val McDermid, and this did not disappoint.

Four stars, solidly above average.

Rather good. The story overall was carefully crafted, unsentimental, and enjoyable. I sort of twigged about the culprit early on, but not other parts (can’t say more without spoilers but it seemed *someone* had a disease, and someone had, but not the person I’d thought). so nearly half the revelations at the end were a shock. The book simply ends after the climax though, and the messy aftermath, the natural consequences of the action (which could continue in several quite different directions) remain a mystery. As a literary technique this is usually a cop-out; though present in a few of the great novels, this case is not entirely successful.

Uptalk in certain lines does my head in, similar to the absent ending in a prosaic detective novel. Particularly when the narrator did it for men’s declarative statements, it jolted me from the story a bit (why’s he sounding interrogative like?). Otherwise the narrator was quite capable.

Not an absolute marvel but certainly above average and worth a credit.