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    Vanishing Girls
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    Vanishing Girls
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    Vanishing Girls
    Ebook365 pages5 hours

    Vanishing Girls

    By Katia Lief

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    “I can always count on Katia Lief for gripping, twist-filled psychological suspense.”
     —Wendy Corsi Staub

    “Mesmerizing….Your heart will be pounding.”
    —Lisa Gardner

    When Katia Lief first introduced readers to her protagonist, haunted ex-New York City cop Karin Schaeffer, in the chilling mystery masterwork You Are Next, she immediately established herself as a modern thriller and romantic suspense writer on a par with Alex Kava, Lisa Gardner and other masters of the contemporary spine-tingler. Lief moves to the head of the class with Vanishing Girls, as the apparent reemergence of a fiendish serial killer on the night streets of Brooklyn threatens to destroy everything and everyone Karin loves…again!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJun 26, 2012
    ISBN9780062091383
    Author

    Katia Lief

    Born in France to American parents, KATIA LIEF moved to the United States as a baby and was raised in Massachusetts and New York. She teaches fiction writing as a part-time faculty member at the New School in Manhattan and lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.

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    Reviews for Vanishing Girls

    3.5/5

    184 ratings26 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This is the third book in the Karin Schaeffer series. After the trauma that filled her life as a detective in previous books, Karin is now working as a private investigator. She and Mac are married and they have a young son named Ben. Mac is suffering with the flu so on her way to the pharmacy she comes across a crime scene being working by her friend, police detective Billy Staples, who is suffering from a PTSD panic attack. He's been trying to track down a sadistic criminal, known as the Working Girl Killer, because he kills prostitutes. There's another body in the same area, an eleven year old girl who is the apparent victim of a hit and run driver. When Karin goes to the girl's house to inform the family, she discovers her wealthy parents have been murdered. Karin begins to involve herself more and more with the crimes as events surrounding them continue to escalate. Before long, even her family is affected in a horrific way. Karin is one of the most haunting characters I've ever read about. She's been shattered by death and pain and readers want her to be able to find some sort of peace. This wasn't my favorite of the four book series but I enjoy the characters and the well written story.
    • 2/5
      I picked up a copy of this book going into it know it would probably not be a serious read but more of a guilty pleasure one. You know the kind that can kind of be described as cotton candy...light and fluffy. Yet, I read this book more than half way. Which is more then I usually go when I don't like a book. The reason that I went so long reading this book is because I did have hope that it would be that guilty pleasure read that I was craving. It did not turn out to be that way. None of the characters in this story were interesting. Thus I did not want to get to know them or their story. Nick and Dara were catty and needed to grow up. This was a big turn off for me. Plus it seemed that the storyline was not going anywhere like with the disappearance. There was not that much focus on it or really what happened to Dara that changed her and Nick's relationship.
    • 3/5
      Nick and her younger sister, Dara, are as different as two sibling can be...in every aspect. An accident that leaves her sister permanently scarred both physically and emotionally...sees Nick walking away and for all purposes abandoning her sister. The story is told from both Dara’s and Nick’s points of view through alternating past and present day accounts as well as diary and blog entries. Unfortunately the essence of the story becomes lost in a story that simply tries to hard to be too much. The author unsuccessfully makes an attempt to weave the sister's story together by using a plot line about the disappearance of a 9-year-old girl. This drags the story down by taking way too long for the reader to sort out how the two different stories are related and it simply becomes a distraction. I did enjoy Oliver's writing style and I wouldn't say it's a bad book...it just wasn't the book I was expecting or hoping for.
    • 1/5
      It’s been a long time since a book has made me this angry, but here I am. This book was HORRIBLE. I usually love Oliver’s writing, but this one was such a lackluster YA novel, I hate that I wasted time reading it. The story was boring to start, and very slow, but I stuck with it because it was being reviewed as so dark and twisted. Spoiler alert: it’s not that dark, and the twist has been done before - and done better. And almost overdone. I went into the book thinking “Ok, this is what happened” but was shown time and time again that it wasn’t the case. Then the “twist” is that - oh, yeah, it actually IS that, but I misled you the whole time. And it’s fine if a twist is truly something that you kind of just overlooked, or something that takes you by surprise, but when it’s something that completely obliterates EVERYTHING you’ve read up to that point…that’s when I call it crappy storytelling. I hope this is just a one-off and Oliver won’t start writing like this - style- AND story-wise. Like I said, I used to really enjoy her books and writing style but this one has completely soured me.
    • 3/5
      3.5/5 Plenty of twists & turns in this fast paced psychological thriller. Wonderful insights into family & growing up. I didn't love it, think it was the fact that I didn't feel connection to heroine or any of the characters really. Usually love her stuff but I just felt meh about it. Her writing is marvelous though, the women has a gift for telling a tale
    • 5/5
      This book follows Dara and Nick, as well as their relationship with Parker, as they discuss their history before and after the fateful car accident that changed their lives forever. Before the accident they were best friends, after the accident they never spoke again, but not for the expected reasons. It is not until the end that we discover the true reason. (Dara is dead.) Interesting book.
    • 4/5
      A psychological novel about the trauma of sisters struggling to repair their relationship after the eldest drives her car off the highway in a serious accident. Unable to completely remember the accident and avoided by her younger sister, Nicole Watson struggles to reach out to a sister who may no longer be there. Meanwhile, her community is caught up in the case of a missing nine-year-old girl - a case Nicole may just stumble right into. I really liked how everything in this book tied together and included a few good reveals that would surprise all but the most discerning readers.
    • 4/5
      This is the first Lauren Oliver I've read. I've been meaning to pick one of her books up for a while, given how often I hear her name mentioned as an author of excellent young adult novels, and Vanishing Girls seemed right in my wheelhouse. It was described as a psychological thriller with heart, by none other than the author of We Were Liars, a book I absolutely loved.In Vanishing Girls, we meet Nick and Dara, sisters who used to be inseparable, until something awful happened. Readers don't know what exactly that something was, only that it somehow involved an accident. Hints are expertly dropped as the novel progresses, and readers get insight through diary entries, e-mails, and photographs.Running parallel to the story of Nick and Dara is the story of Madeline Snow, a young girl from their town who has gone missing. As the two stories begin to intersect, the secrets from Nick and Dara's past begin to emerge.For the first three quarters of the book, I thought it was good. I was enjoying it, and found it interesting, and I definitely wanted to know more.But when I hit the last quarter or so of the book, I actually gasped out loud. I've read a lot of mysteries, but Oliver had managed to completely fool me, and I was blown away. I won't say anymore because I don't want to give anything away, but even if you find the beginning of the book a bit slow, I highly recommend that you keep reading. It's worth it.
    • 4/5
      Lauren Oliver is a prolific writer. This novel will keep you interested as her novels always do. This is a novel more suited to 8th graders.Dara and Nick are sisters who have hung out with Parker their whole lives. Parker and Nick have been best friends. Things changed when Dara kissed Parker and they started dating, creating a distance between Nick and her sister and best friend. Nick can’t remember what happened, but one night she was driving her car in the rain with Dara as the passenger. After they were found, Dara’s beauty is forever marred by scars that plague on Nick’s conscience.After the accident and recovery, Nick lives with her father who has married another woman, giving the girls a step-sister. Nick’s father is selfish and can’t give Nick the support she needs, so he returns her to Nick’s mother. Dara refuses to see or talk to Nick. On occasion, the reader experiences Dara’s diary and a few adventures to enable the reader to get her side of the story. When Nick plans a special birthday party for Dara and she doesn’t show, Nick is convinced something bad has happened. Nick begins to see connections to a girl who has gone missing in town. If Nick finds the girl, will she find Dara? This novel is told in parts, going from past to present, from sister to sister, so the reader has to piece the story together. Clues are left as to what is truly happening, but they are cleverly disguised. It’s a good psychological thriller.
    • 2/5
      I felt like this was a rip-off of We Were Liars. A throwaway by Lauren Oliver, who is usually an excellent author, Vanishing Girls is dark and gritty.
    • 5/5
      Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before. Before the fight, before the accident, before Dara was left broken and angry and unable to forgive Nick for driving that night, for causing the accident. Now they avoid one another, they barley talk let alone share secrets like they used to. So when Dara goes missing Nick thinks she's just trying to get attention, play games, that is until she realizes that her disappearance might just be linked to the disappearance of another girl, this one nine years old. "Vanishing Girls" draws you in and hangs on to you with all it's might. It's the perfect blend of darkness and light. Of hope and utter despair. --------------------------------------The day I picked this up was the day that Lauren Oliver happened to be doing a signing at my local bookstore. I swung by and picked it up around 11am thinking I would read a least a few chapters, just enough to acquaint myself with the story and the characters so I wouldn't be completely lost during the Q&A portion of the signing.I finished it 3 hours later. I can't even describe how much I LOVED this book. The characters are developed, the plot is spectacular and the setting is breathtaking, the story as a whole is amazing but even if you break it up into different pieces it's still worthwhile.I loved how the story centered around sisters. Both so different yet so alike.Weaving in Madeline Snow's disappearance really kept the story going and added a note of desperation to the storyline. I adored the setting of the ammusment park and it's array of unusual and original characters. I can honestly say that this is my all time favorite Lauren Oliver book, it's dark and twisted and intense to the point of cause the reading extreme pain and disbelief. The moment I finished it I wanted to start it over again from the beginning. If you're looking for a thrilling story that will keep you up late at night thinking about it then look no further because "Vanishing Girls" is that book! Until next time, Ginger
    • 4/5
      Mixed feelings about this book! The twist at the end was quite unexpected and had me going "whhhhattt?" and then flipping back to see what I had missed and to check if the author had slipped up (I don't think she did!) so it was great in that respect.My issues with it is that all of the characters and relationships seem utterly cliche and stereotypical. We have the sisters who don't get along because once the "good" one and the other is the "bad" one, we have the divorced parents with the father whose moved on with a new, younger girlfriend and the mother whose kinda fallen into depression. We have the boy-next-door whose in love with both sisters and who both sisters are in love with. We have the party-friends of Dara who aren't really friends. We have the teens who talkback to police/authorities, and the sense that all of the adults in the story are clueless and it takes teenagers to figure stuff out, etc, etc. Now, the twist of the story does account for some of these reasons, but not all of them. It's strange because this is clearly a strong, competent author who can write scenes and structure a narrative, I don't understand why she dug around in the cliche character bin.Still, I recommend it. There is a payoff, but it's a bit of a large book and the twist doesn't really start forming until the last maybe 10% of the novel, which reinforces the whole first 90% but you might find, as I did, while reading the first chunk that this not at all reads like the psychological thriller its touted as being on its front cover.
    • 2/5
      I already read We Were Liars and Save Yourself pretty recently. So like, I'm good. This one wasn't really necessary.
    • 4/5
      The beginning of this was really slow, but the end sure picked up in true Oliver style. The twist also totally hit me off guard, which is very unusual.
    • 5/5
      What a good book!! I bought this and devoured it pretty quickly, it's a quick engrossing read.There is so much great teen/young adult novels available and so many of the authors are so good at spinning a tale. Lauren Oliver has become one of my favourites. It's the story of two sisters, inseparable, so close until the accident where Dara has terrible scars and injuries and Nick primarily has scars on the inside , racked with guilt over what she has done to her sister, she was the one driving. Right before the accident, there was an incident of Dara and Nicks best friend and a little crack formed in the perfection of their relationship. After the accident, Nick spends time at her father's for a change of scenery. Then it is decided that it is time for her to go home at and come to terms with not what was, but what is now. Nick feels so much guilt and self hatred, her sister won't talk to her, the relationship they had haunts her and there doesn't seem to be a way that things will change. For the summer, she is working at FanLand, her mother has put her food down on her no longer working at the previous job she enjoyed well enough as she would have to drive there, an idea that mom had vetoed. And then there's her best friend Parker, that relationship is also in shambles.Then a young girl disappears and there are rumours that everything there didn't go as planned. Nick finds out that Dara was into some pretty scary stuff and then she disappears. I couldn't stop reading and while I had a teensy hint what was going on, I didn't suspect the full picture. Great read
    • 4/5
      completed 3.8.15,I have some mixed thoughts on this story. I was able to see what was happening before the twist came because it has been done before, too often. But Oliver is a good writer, this is the first book of hers I have read. I was caught up with the lives of both sisters, Dara and Nick and all the things that weren't being said between each other, the dynamic that changed after a terrible car accident. The plot blurb gives a different impression of the story, it isn't so much about Dara's disappearance which doesn't happen until 3/4 of the way through, but more Nick's trying to get to know here sister after the accident. The sisters' story was loosely tied in with the disappearance of a a nine year old girl. It made for a fast paced ending to the book.The story wasn't brilliant but I was captivated enough to read this in a day.
    • 4/5
      Loved this book. It hit so close to home. I have a sister really close to age to me and have had a sibling die. I competed with my sister but always felt like I had to watch out for siblings being the oldest.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. Lauren Oliver really is a master at character development and pacing. This book is one of her best so far.The story is told from the point of view of Nick, the main character, and her sister, Dara. Immediately the reader is drawn to Nick as a sympathetic character. She is a straight A student, has a job and is overall responsible. Meanwhile her sister Dara is a wild child. Partying, drinking, experimenting drugs and other things, it is hard to like Dara at first. But, because the book is told in first person moving between characters' points of view, Dara surprisingly slowly begins to grow on the reader.Then towards the end of the book there is a twist that is so shocking and brilliantly executed that it left me reeling. I've read many realistic teen novels that have these bomb dropping shifts suddenly revealed; things that make you want to rethink everything you thought you knew about the novel. This was the best one so far.
    • 3/5
      I have loved Lauren Oliver’s books in the past, especially her Delirium trilogy. However, I felt this book was not at the same level.The point of view jumps felt disjointed. Instead of being intriguing, I found the plot muddled. What should have been a suspenseful story became tiresome to me. The love interest, Parker, seemed unworthy and kind of a jerk.The novel had a surprising twist at the end, but not an original one. It seemed as though the author depended too much on the shock value of this sudden turn of events.Once the truth was revealed, some clever writing became apparent. The clues were there all along. Unfortunately, when I found out the reality, I also discovered I didn’t really care. Somehow the people did not get into my heart like Oliver’s characters in previous books.It is certainly not a terrible book, just not as astounding as her previous work.
    • 3/5
      Lauren Oliver's latest offering is engrossing, a page turner. I was perhaps 2/3 of the way through the book, thinking that this was definitely a 4 or 5 starrer and then I started to have the suspicion that I'd been duped in the way that M. Night Shyamalan dupes and as I continued, the feeling grew. Perhaps there was subtle foreshadowing.

      There is no argument: the novel is well-written. I have seen comparisons to Gone Girl, which I have read. But I always felt as if Gone Girl were all done above board and I didn't feel that here. I felt like everything I had been reading was a dream and then it was time to wake up. Like a season of Dallas, where Bobby was killed, but then wakes up and it was all a dream. The audience calls foul.

      So, ultimately I don't know how to rate this book. Maybe 3 and 1/2 stars because it kept me turning the pages so that I read it in a day. On the other hand, this is not Before I Fall, which will remain the top Lauren Oliver book as far as I am concerned. With that thought in mind, I won't quibble, even to myself, about the rating any more.
    • 4/5
      Was not expecting that twist!
    • 3/5
      Oliver's novel covers the story of sisters Nick (Nicole) and Dara, who grew up close, but have drifted apart as teens. Then they are in a terrible accident, which pulls them even further apart -- to the point where they aren't even speaking. However, when Nick eventually thinks Dara has disappeared, she goes on a quest to find her sister and help her.

      This book was just sort of eh... I don't think it's really a spoiler to say that the "vanishing" part for Dara doesn't take place until well into the plot. The story is more the tale of Dara and Nick's lives before and after their accident (told in their own voices, jumping between time). It's actually rather compelling as is and the whole "vanishing" almost seems like an unwelcome distraction once it arrives.

      It's not to say the whole book is bad. I struggled with the rating, really. There's a lot of suspense that simply captures the sisters' lives and tumult surrounding the accident. Oliver does a good job portraying Nick's teen life and her growth as she works at an amusement park over the summer.

      Still, the "vanishing girls" part feels contrived at times and parts of Dara's life, as it unfolds, seems forced. Overall, I'm still sort of unsure about this one, truly. It leaves you a little uneven, which who knows... may be the point!
    • 2/5
      Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: Two sisters desperately trying to create their own personalities but realising far too late that they are more similar than they would like.Opening Sentence: The funny thing about almost-dying is that afterward everyone expects you to jump on the happy train and take time to chase butterflies through grassy fields or see rainbows in puddles of oil slick on the highway.The Review:If you have any siblings, regardless of your relationship with them, you’ll find something in common with Nick and Dara. They were inseparable until Dara started dating Nick’s best friend, Parker. That’s when things changed for the worst. Especially when everyone, including the sisters, knows that Parker chose the wrong sister.You see, even then, I knew. It wasn’t a trick. It wasn’t a show. Sometimes day and night reverse. Sometimes up goes down and down goes up and love turns into hate, and the things you counted on get washed out from under your feet, leaving you pedaling in the air. Sometimes people stop loving you. And that’s the kind of darkness that never gets fixed, no matter how many moons rise again, filling the sky with a weak approximation of light.Vanishing Girls isn’t just about two sisters fighting over a boy; it’s also about siblings trying to forge their own identity, life altering events and a mystery surrounding a missing girl. Madeleine is the name of the girl that has ‘vanished’ and I wonder if Lauren Oliver realised that in 2007 a little girl called Madeleine went missing and has never been found?5. I’m super, extra, mega grateful that no one knows what really happened. That no one will ever know. They say that you’re supposed to tell the truth. Dr. Lichme says that, anyway.But don’t they also say that what you don’t know can’t hurt you?Although Vanishing Girls is an average read, my low rating is because I expected so much more from the likes of Lauren Oliver, particularly because I was a huge fan of her Delirium series. This story was okay but not great.I did not like Parker at all. Firstly, you don’t date your bestest friend’s younger sister, and secondly, if you do, then it’s because you’re very much in love with them, not because you were too chicken to ask your best friend out! And you don’t forget your best friend whilst dating her sister. Also, for future reference, no one likes a cheater! Parker broke possibly every single BFF code possible and still both girls were gaga over him?!“It’ll be just like old times,” Parker says, and I feel a hard ache in my chest, a desperate desire for something lost long ago.Everyone knows you can’t go back.Nick and Dara are likeable enough and although I understood their roller coaster sisterly bond, I could not connect with either sister. I get that the story surrounds a tragic accident and things like that have serious repercussions, but there was so much doom and gloom that it became a drag to read.Memory is like that too. We build careful bridges. But they’re weaker than we think.And when they break, all our memories return to drown us.The changing format of the chapters was probably what kept me reading. Some chapters were in the form of diary entries, others were news articles, letters from the doctor, and so on. After a while though, this constant change became frustrating because it wasn’t always clear which chapter was a flashback and which was the present, plus it alternated between the sisters’ perspectives so that added to the problem.To conclude, I wasn’t invested enough in this story or the characters to fully enjoy Vanishing Girls.Notable Scene:That’s what life is, pretty much: full of holes and tangles and ways to get stuck. Uncomfortable and itchy. A present you never asked for, never wanted, never chose. A present you’re supposed to be excited to wear, day after day, even when you’d rather stay in bed and do nothing.The truth is this: it doesn’t take any skill to almost-die, or to almost-live either.FTC Advisory: HarperCollins provided me with a copy of Vanishing Girls. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
    • 5/5
      woah dude. woah.
    • 4/5
      Excellent.

      Lauren Oliver is one of my favorite YA authors. I loved the delirium series, and I love her dystopian works.

      I read Panic, but it wasn't one of my favs. But this book was good. It wasn't dystopian, not really a romance story, and wasn't about a game teenagers played. I liked this one.
    • 3/5
      Sisters Dara and Nick used to be the best of friends. They were born less than a year apart so they did and experienced everything together including their parents' divorce. Parker completed their trio and was also close with them since childhood. Then they got older and things got weird. Attractions formed; moments were awkward; and Parker ended up dating Dara, much to Nick's chagrin. Then the accident happened. The details are fuzzy, but Dara wasn't wearing a seatbelt while Nick lost control of her car. Dara is now scarred physically and emotionally while completely separating herself from her friends and family. Nick doesn't know how to mend their relationship and makes big plans for Dara's birthday, but Dara disappears. This is shortly after another girl disappeared and is still missing. Nick is convinced the two disappearances are related and she's determined to save her sister.With every Lauren Oliver book, I can guarantee that I will read the book quickly and be sucked immediately into the story. She just writes interesting characters that I may not like, but I need to know what happens to them. I like and can relate to Nick. She's the more sensible of the two sisters and always feels the need to save Dara from herself. Nick is the one who is reliable, the "good" sister, and is hardly ever in trouble. Dara, on the other hand, is constantly going to parties, getting high or drunk, blacking out, and generally being irresponsible. Dara annoyed the crap out of me because she was so desperate for attention, but she still had my sympathy. No one deserves what happened to her and it's shame that she cut herself off from everyone. She seems to realize how destructive her behavior was and learned from her mistakes. Both girls envy each other, but create a front to protect themselves. They also have a toxic, codependent relationship where Nick constantly takes care of Dara and doesn't let her solve her own problems or learn from her own mistakes. The book alternates between Dara and Nick's point of view both before and after the accident with website articles with comments, diary entries, letters, and e-mails interspersed between them. I love when authors include writing outside of the main characters because it provides a more complete picture of what's going on and makes it feel real. The subplot with the missing girl and that associated craziness felt surprisingly Twin Peaks without the supernatural stuff. Despite the well written characters and twists and turns in the plot, this is my least favorite Lauren Oliver book. There is game changing twist at the end. I don't have a problem with the twist itself, but it felt dishonest. I understand that narrators can be unreliable but I guessed at the twist early on and dismissed it. I felt deliberately misled and kind of cheated. I prefer The Sixth Sense style twist where everything is consistent and it totally blows your mind on subsequent viewings over the High Tension style twist that has a lot of inconsistencies. This was more like the latter. I still enjoy Lauren Oliver, but Vanishing Girls just didn't live up to my expectations.

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