The Vanishing

musiclover182013 · Post by **musiclover182013** » 04 Jun 2014, 22:20

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Wendy Webb brings to us her third novel, The Vanishing, and remains a fantastic contributor to the horror community. Being fairly new to the horror writing community, she easily fits in with other writers within her genre and presents her works as good competition.

Told through the view of Julia Bishop, we are taken on a journey through a very twisted tale. Julia's recently deceased husband was a sociopath who seized money from his unsuspecting clients and was caught in the act causing an outbreak of negative publicity. After killing himself Julia was alone dealing with the press. Soon, a man, Adrian Sinclar, came knocking at her door to offer her an opportunity to be a live in caregiver for his mother, Amaris Sinclar, one of Julia's most beloved horror novelists. The catch was, Amaris Sinclair was supposed to be dead.

Upon accepting the opportunity, Julia finds herself at Havenwood, a mansion, as she soon learns, built by Andrew McCullough in the late 1800s. Havenwood seems so familiar to Julia, but she can not seem to place why. The walls seem to whisper things as she walks through the long, dark hallways and pictures come to life in horrific scenes. Sing a song of sixpence/A pocket full of rye... Julia can not seem to escape the ghosts of such a spectacular and ancient home that has seen so many things throughout its lifetime. She soon plays it off as the quirks of an old home. “What house as old as this wouldn’t have its ghosts?”

Amaris and Julia quickly become friends and both being authors, find commonalities in books. A library seems to be the most practical place to bond and this is where much of the story’s main surprises take place. Not only does Julia find the book signed by the great Seraphina, a well known spiritualist of Andrew McCullough’s time, but also finds that she is in fact her descendent. Thanks to Seraphina’s last seance held at Havenwood, a great evil is unleashed and it still roams the room causing many horrific experiences for poor Julia.

Upon exploring Havenwood and the estate, she is introduced to a horse hand, Drew McCullough, who is in fact the descendent of Andrew McCullough himself. A surprise I am sure. Drew and Julia form a close relationship quite quickly and stay together to solve the untold secrets of the mansion.

With so many twists and turns, The Vanishing definitely keeps the reader enthralled in its pages. I rate this book a 4 out of 4 stars because of the fantastic way it was written. Wendy Webb does a marvelous job of sticking to the story line while also throwing many unexpected occurrences into the mix. With a great plot twist in the end, I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a little horror and mystery in their life.