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The Vanishing Place by Zoë Rankin

The Vanishing Place

by Zoë Rankin

  • Critics' Consensus (7):
  • Readers' Rating (63):
  • Published:
  • Sep 2025, 384 pages
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for The Vanishing Place
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  • Melinda D. (Safety Harbor, FL)
    A Dark, Disturbing Family Tale with Secrets Beyond the Bush
    Rankin's novel is an extremely powerful and disturbing story that weaves in deep family loss, stolen childhoods and extreme manipulation that mirrors enslavement. It's not an easy read and I found myself several times thinking this can't get more twisted and then it did.
  • Mary G. (Greensboro, GA)
    Missed the Mark
    In the Vanishing Place, Scottish police officer, Effie, is compelled to return to the New Zealand bush she escaped 17 years earlier to aid a child who looks exactly like she did at that age. The child leads Effie back into the bush—to a place she never wanted to see again—and she is shocked and heartbroken by what she finds there. Solving the present day mystery requires digging back into her painful past.

    The book moves back and forth from Effie's childhood to the present day. There are many references to a trauma that led Effie to leave her younger siblings and move across the world. However, that event is not explained till late in the book. In fact, there are a number of out-of-the-blue revelations late in the book. Unfortunately, the thing that had vanished by that time was my interest.

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