What do readers think of The Vanishing Place by Zoë Rankin? Write your own review.

This is one of the most unusual books I've read this year. The experiences of the family living "off the grid" in New Zealand are horrifying and grip the reader immediately. The novel is arranged in mostly alternating chapters between the present day of 2025 and a period about twenty years in the past. The descriptions of the "bush" and the events that happen there are masterfully written.

Effie, the oldest child of the family, is the main character and has become a policewoman in Scotland when she is called back to New Zealand to investigate a murder that seemingly involves her family. This brings back many difficult memories since she had moved away years before to escape the trauma of her childhood.

The book has many characters, and switching between the different time periods and viewpoints gets a bit confusing. I really enjoyed the first three-fourths of the book, but the last fourth was difficult to read through. The alternating chapters became very short, and then a much earlier time period with a different set of characters appeared. I kept thinking the book was ending, but then it kept going. The author must have been determined to include the extra plot points as well as complicated feelings emerging between Effie and an old friend. I think the book would have been better if the book left the reader less weary at the end.

I loved the writing style of this novel, with it's short chapters and multiple timelines. The book starts with a situation that introduces us to Effie and also lets the reader know that there will be surprises and scares! As we delve into Effie's life, a child appears, in apparent distress. The book then continues to solve the mystery around this child. There are several plot twists that were completely a surprise to me. There were a couple that I started to figure out, but was never fully correct. There was one character that puzzled me throughout...what was her real role in the mystery? However, the author finally answered that question at the conclusion when this thrilling, scary and violent story came to an end. This was an enjoyable page turner!

This beautifully written novel unfolds through dual timelines, telling a haunting tale of a young girl who emerges from the New Zealand bush, starving and bloodied. Who is she? Where did she come from? Why does she bear such a strong resemblance to another girl who stumbled out of the same bush under similar circumstances 17 years ago? The story captured my attention from the very first pages and held it throughout.

My only complaint is that the author seems to have started down one path but then shifted direction. As a result, there are several loose ends and unresolved issues that definitely need clarification.

The Vanishing Place began with a strong premise; however, I found myself skimming the chapters from the past loving the chapters that take place in 2025. Effie and Anya are compelling characters, which redeemed the book for me. The psychological dynamics involving the damaged child Anya are realistic and heartbreaking. The fact that Effie escaped from the bush is a story of resilience. However, I just found the backstory of the life in their bush depressing to the point I couldn't muddle through.

Set in the bush of the South Island New Zealand. A woman returns to help solve the mystery of the sudden appearance of a child in her remote village; and to find the family she ran from when she was 16. Moving back and forth in time, you find why this family lived isolated. The timeline gets confusing moving back and forth and with a sudden addition of new characters in the last quarter of the book, that really enhances the confusion. While a quick read, the mystery unfolds slowly and could have stood with some background filler on the location.

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.

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.