Official Review: The Vanished Ones by N.V. Sumner

[ALRyder]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Vanished Ones" by N.V. Sumner.]

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“The Vanished Ones” by N.V. Sumner is a delctable read, brimming with mystery and suspense.

Woken in the early morning hours, Li Chen is greeted with the news that her friend and godchild have been kidnapped. While most would feel useless in such a situation, Li Chen is a private investigator, more than capable of handling such a case. She specializes in finding missing children. Li has a sixth sense for places that have encountered manevolence and reading people’s emotions.

While Li is amazing at what she does in her professional life, her personal life can get a bit dodgy. Her own sister was taken when they were children, and her mother looks down on what she does for a living now. Li often finds herself pulling away from the ones she loves most, even when she truly needs them. Now just happens to be one of those times of need, because not only is she too close to this case emotionally, she also begins to have health problems, obstructing her ability to do her job physically. Keeping herself closed off becomes harder and harder as the story progresses.

Still Li forges on, attempting to keep a clear head, even as the case becomes more and more peculiar. Leads abound, and Li finds some of these leads hard to follow. It’s hard when you begin to delve into the life of a friend, digging up secrets you never even knew they were capable of having. From meth labs, to astranged sisters, to suspicians of a cult; Li hardly knows what is true and what has been planted to obscure the truth.

Sumner truly did an amazing job with this one. The writing is smooth, and the characters are believable. I found myself tuly caring for the people in this book, especially Li in all of her endeavors; whether they be personal, professional, or a mix of both. Everything that happened in Li’s personal life coincided well with the story as a whole, and there was hardly a dull moment. The pace was a constant move forward, always important with a book like this.

I will say that early on I found some of the side notes about the people to take things a little off topic. Sumner sometimes went into great detail about people’s histories in a way that I think could have been done a little more subtly. Some of the dialogue seemed stilted as well. This was especially the case whenever Li and her boyfriend spoke to one another. I’m not sure why, but all of these conversations read awkward. They may have been meant to be awkward, as Li is weird with loved ones, but I thought it made the relationship a little unrealistic the way that they spoke to one another.

This was one heck of a ride. With an unbelievable story, that just might be believable. I will definitely be waiting in anticipation for the next one in the series, and will probably gobble it down just as quickly as this one. I’m rating “The Vanished Ones” 3 out of 4 stars. This one was so close to being a 4 star read, if not for the issues with the dialogue it definitely would have been. I strongly encourage anyone on the hunt for a good mystery to pick this one up. You just might find yourself a follower of a great new series. As I said, it’s delectable, and the best I've read in the genre for a long while.

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[Timea]

Great review you made me curious about the book, especially with this part: ”From meth labs, to astranged sisters, to suspicians of a cult; Li hardly knows what is true and what has been planted to obscure the truth.”

[gali]

A great review indeed. Sounds intriguing.

[ALRyder]

Thanks! This was another treasure I've found on this site, and I'm really happy I was the one to read it. I just hope that my review helps others to make the choice to pick it up as well.

[reads-a-lot]

Thanks for the great review of the book. Sounds like something I might be interested in.
I am new here so I can't wait to get started reading some of these books.

[ALRyder]

The site is great for finding new books you may never have gotten the chance to read before. Sometimes you come across not so great ones as well, as most of our reviewer pages show, but just as is true no matter where you're getting your books, it's worth it for those few coveted 4 star reads...or as this one is, near 4 star reads.

Thanks for the reply!

[raindropwriter]

Great review! Story sounds interesting.

[ALRyder]

Thanks, it's definitely a good one.

[H0LD0Nthere]

Thanks for this review, and thanks for explaining why it didn't quite make 4 stars. Too bad. But it sounds close enough to The Fingerprint of Destiny to make up for the fact you didn't get to review that one.

[ALRyder]

Haha, I actually thought about that book after reading this one. They seem to be in the same genre, and very good book besides.

[kio]

great recommendation. can't wait to read it!