The Vanishing Year

Ingenious! The cunning and well laid out plot sucked me into a web of intense suspicion and edgy suspense.

For Zoe, a woman with a deeply troubling past, falling in love with Henry, a very wealthy man, who practically sweeps her off her feet, it’s a dream come true, almost like a fairy tale. Even after a year of wedded bliss, she still keeps pinching herself, unable to believe how fortunate she is.

But, Henry is not fully aware of Zoe’s past, so when she becomes the victim of a few break-ins and several other unsettling incidents, she begins to worry that her past has caught up to her, and becomes desperate to keep to preserve her secrets and possibly her life.

This story falls into the domestic thriller genre, which has suddenly show more risen in popularity, which is fine by me because for some reason it make the stakes seem higher, and the underlying uneasiness feels more sinister.

This book is well written, with impeccable timing and pacing, and has everything a good psychological thriller should, plus it totally screwed with my head! Good stuff! I loved it!
4.5 stars show less

Zoe Whittaker seems to have a charmed life. She is the chair of a foundation for orphaned children, CARE, an issue that has deep meaning to her since she was adopted; and is married to Henry Whittaker, a Wall Street guru. Her marriage to Henry has taken her off the streets and into a fancy high-rise, she is able to travel the world and focus on what she really cares about. However, after a successful charity benefit for CARE, Zoe’s past come racing back for her. Five years prior, Zoe wasn’t even Zoe. She was Hilary Lawlor and she was running away from a mess in California. Now, she is afraid that she has been recognized at the benefit; especially when she is almost run over by a car and her apartment is broken into. Zoe wants show more nothing more than to feel secure and tied down, so she tries to look into her birth mother’s whereabouts. However, Henry seems unsupportive and has been becoming controlling, questioning her actions and who she is with. Now that Zoe thinks about it, Henry has many secrets in his past too; a dead wife that Zoe has never seen pictures of, dead parents and a very dedicated maid that will not say a word to Zoe. All at once, Zoe tries to find out who is trying to kill her, uncover her own past and dig deeper into the man her husband seems to be.
Several mysteries wrapped into one, The Vanishing Year kept me up late into the night with its many twists and turns. Zoe is a very real character, with a lot of trauma in her background. She has used her newfound wealth in order to do good; however she is constantly on the lookout for anyone from her past. Some of her naivety seemed overdone, and I had some parts of her mystery figured out early on. Zoe did grow on me though, as soon as she started coming into her own and getting out of her apartment, she began to question things. While Zoe was so focused on hiding her own past, she didn’t seem to push Henry into revealing any of his. Henry seemed to be the one hiding more than Zoe, and his past is locked up tighter. The suspense rose in the second half of the book as Zoe concentrates on finding her birth mother. Slowly, inklings of something more disturbing than what Zoe can imagine are being teased out and while I had an idea of who might be behind it all, I had no idea of why or to what extent until the very end where I was speed reading along to see what would happen! Overall, a slow building psychological thriller and mystery with a whirlwind ending.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. show less

Zoe Whittaker has it all: a husband who adores her (Henry), a beautiful house, and plenty of wealth, but she has a secret past. She is actually in witness protection due to testifying against drug dealers in the past.
Zoe was adopted as a child, and wants to find her birth mother now that her adoptive mom, Evelyn, has died. Henry disagrees with her decision, feeling that she is always seeking more, and wants him to be enough for her.
When things start to go wrong-a near death car crash, her home being vandalized, Zoe begins to think her past is coming back to haunt her. She is increasingly wary of her husband’s attempts to control her actions, and wonders if he might be having an affair.
Zoe discovers some shocking secrets when she show more and Henry go to their second home for a respite.
I enjoyed this psychological thriller of obsession. There was a shocking twist or two in the story, adding to the tension.
I look forward to reading more books by this author. show less

NetGalley and Atria Books provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is a character-driven psychological thriller, and if you dive into it with that in mind, it works well, and while the build-up is a bit slow, I owe this to the skillful character development.

I confess, I'm a big fan of the she-isn't-who-people-think-she-is setup, and despite the pacing, the beginning was well written - Moretti has a wonderful ability to build a scene, show nuances in the characters - the control of the abusive spouse, the unwillingess of the victim to admit to the controlling behavior - this was all carefully and skillfully wrought.

And once the scene is finally - finally - set, show more the book picks up pace rapidly. The plot twists and turns, and never heads where I think it will. I read this in two sittings - once it got moving, I couldn't stop reading it. show less

Enthralling and emotional domestic suspense! THE VANISHING YEAR is the story of Zoe, a woman on the run from her dark past. Her new husband, Henry, has pulled her into his opulent world of wealth and power. Zoe will never want for anything again, as long as she can keep her secrets buried deep. Then one day, her seemingly perfect world begins to unravel.

I thought that this was a well-written psychological thriller. Gave me a feeling of unease from the beginning. I wasn’t sure which characters to trust, and what twist was waiting around the next corner. There were three *big* jaw-dropping moments, which I loved. I dislike spoilers, so I’m not going to say anymore about the plot. Enjoy the sweet (and disturbing!) surprises on your show more own. The epilogue was emotional and bittersweet, made me teary-eyed.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. show less

Even though this novel has a similar premise to other novels from this genre, I was still excited to see how the author would make this story unique. This story had a slower build up than I had expected, which was sometimes a positive and other times a negative. I also don't think the slower pace really helped in making the story filled with more tension or horror, which I would have liked to seen; it would have made me take the story more seriously if there was a steady increase in tension or fear, and while events were definitely happening, I never felt that urgency from them. The story, told completely from Zoe's perspective, is told mostly in the present but also has excerpts from her past so that the reader gets a better idea of show more who she was and how she got to this point in her life. To be frank, I liked old Zoe a lot better than the new one; old Zoe actually had a personality unlike present Zoe. There were a lot of clues and red herrings thrown into the story such that I was suspicious of every character. I quite liked that because I can usually hone in to the main suspects and have the plot figured out in the first few chapters of a thriller. However, with that being said, there is such a thing as too many clues. When there are too many angles to consider, it muddles the plot, and this was something that happened here. The writing style was fine, nothing spectacular to mention but nothing terrible either. Overall, this was an interesting thriller, but nothing genre-bending. I would give this a 2.5 stars rounded to 3 and recommend to anyone who loves thrillers. show less

The Vanishing Year by Kate Moretti is a suspense-laden psychological mystery.

Beautiful socialite Zoe Whittaker leads an enviable life with her wealthy husband, Henry. Her gorgeous husband lavishes her with extravagant gifts, pampers her with lavish vacations and refuses to allow her to lift a finger around their beautiful apartment. However, her storybook life begins to fall apart after someone from her distant past recognizes her at a charity event she organized. Zoe has been keeping a dark secret about the events that led to her precipitous move and name change several years earlier and she is deathly afraid of anyone learning the truth about her.

Feeling a bit unmoored as memories begin to haunt her, Zoe decides to renew her search show more for her biological mother. At the same time, she meets with local reporter Cash Murray to dissuade him from using any pictures of her in his accompanying article for his feature on her charity event. A little preoccupied by thoughts of her past, Zoe is stunned when Henry throws harsh accusations her way and his attention begins to feel more controlling than loving. Following a couple of unsettling incidents, Zoe is certain her past is catching up with her but is the truth more frightening than she can possibly imagine?

Little by little, Zoe has given up bits and pieces of her identity since meeting Henry. Transformed from the purple-haired, multiple pierced apprentice floral designer into a sleek, polished millionaire's wife, she is content to let Henry make all the decisions in their marriage. Filling her days with charity work and shopping, she is a little bored, but overall she is satisfied with their life. However, with no living relatives (excerpt Henry), Zoe cannot help but feel the need to renew her search for her biological mother. Dismayed but undeterred by Henry's vehement objections, she takes Cash up on his offer to help with her search.

Having never witnessed anything but loving attention from Henry, Zoe is astonished by his sudden and inexplicable mood swings. Her once charming and adoring husband is sometimes frightening as he places unreasonable demands on who she can see and what she can do. Even more disconcerting are his unfounded and abrupt allegations that her relationship with Cash might go beyond friendship. Suddenly unsure of how Henry's reactions, Zoe carefully guards what she tells him as she renews old friendships and continues looking for information about her ongoing search for her mother.

With a series of puzzling incidents, a scandalous past and a marriage that is perhaps a little too good be true, The Vanishing Year by Kate Moretti is a riveting mystery that is full of spectacular twists, turns and astonishing revelations. Although initially a bit slow-paced, the novel quickly gathers steam as it hurtles to a stunning conclusion. All in all, an outstanding mystery that fans of the genre are sure to enjoy. show less