Very good read; interesting protagonist; enough plot twists to stay unpredictable. ( )

Loved it. My first intoduction into Nick Heller. I will be buying more. ( )

When Roger and Lauren Heller are attacked on the way back to their car from the restaurant where they had just finished eating dinner, Lauren is knocked unconscious. By the time she awakens 24 hours later, Roger has disappeared. Worried about his dad, young Gabe calls in his Uncle Nick, Roger's brother, who also happens to be a private detective. Not long after Nick Heller is on the case, a mysterious and somewhat cryptic e-mail appears in Lauren's inbox, suggesting that Roger is dead. Will Nick find his brother? Is Roger really dead or just hiding out? And just how and why is Victor Heller (Nick and Roger's father) involved in all of this?

Joseph Finder has created an interesting new hero for this new series of books, of which Vanished is only the intriguing start. Vanished is quickly paced, a thriller full of action and suspense from the beginning to the very end, yet has enough description to bring the characters to a fully fleshed state. This page-turner grabbed me by the collar and didn't let go until I finished reading every last page; it left me wanting more.

I was ready to give Vanished my highest rating when, with about 150 pages left to read, I suddenly "saw" the ending. This predictability isn't something I like to see in a really good book (surprise endings are the best) but I have to admit the plot twist was something worth reading. Although I already knew what would happen, I just wasn't sure of all the details... and at that point, I was already so deeply hooked, I couldn't put the book down; I had to finish.

Vanished isn't for everyone, as the violence does get rather graphic in a couple places. Still,I recommend this book for those adult readers who like thrillers and/or action packed novels and can handle the violence.

This review has been simultaneously published on Amazon.com, Dragonviews, and LibraryThing. ( )

http://www.book-blog.com/2009/09/find... ( )

What the hell has Roger Heller gotten himself into? Vanished, the latest thriller from Joe Finder opens with an attack on Lauren and Roger Heller as they are leaving a Georgetown restaurant. Lauren wakes up more than 24 hours later, badly concussed. Of Roger, there is no sign. In the interim, their 14-year-old son, Gabe, has called in his uncle, Nick, for help. It is Nick Heller, brother of Roger, who Finder is setting up to be the hero of a new series of novels.

He’s made a good choice. Born to a life of extreme wealth—all of which was lost in a scandal—Nick gave up the pursuit of cash and joined the armed forces. Now he works as a private investigator for a high-end DC firm. He’s tough, charismatic, and extremely competent. Nick Heller strikes me as a character that could go over equally well with both men and women.

Nick and Roger haven’t been close in years, but Nick can’t leave his only brother’s disappearance entirely in the hands of the DC police. He begins his own investigation, while at the same time continuing to look into loose threads from his last work case. The deeper he digs into each, the more convoluted these two cases become. And the more enemies he seems to acquire.

Occasionally I thought I knew where Finder was going with his story, and occasionally I was right. More often I was wrong. A couple times I was completely stunned by a plot development. Joe Finder is definitely more clever than I am. Nick Heller is also more clever than I am, and the man really knows how to throw a punch. Fight scenes in the book were unusually interesting and well-written. Additionally, take it from a native Washingtonian that the DC setting was used with specificity and authenticity. (And observations like, “Washington, D.C., is to lying what Hershey, Pennsylvania, is to chocolate” made me smile.) Plenty of details that ring true do a lot to sell the whole story.

These days, I’ve got a litmus test for thrillers: Can I read it in a single day? Because it has relatively little to do with how many pages or how fast I read. It’s all about a novel holding my interest for hours on end. Vanished passed with flying colors. It’s not Finder’s strongest work, but it’s a good start to a new series. ( )