My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
On Sale: September 16, 2025
If you're tired of the cold weather, pick up Zoë Rankin’s debut thriller, "The Vanishing Place". The New Zealand bush setting will draw you in to a dense and isolated world where family secrets, trauma, and identity are revealed in a page-turning dual-timeline narrative.
FIRST SENTENCE: "The child didn't know it then."
THE STORY: Effie successfully escaped a terrifying childhood in an isolated community in the bush years ago and fled to Scotland for a new life; but her past violently returns when a young girl, Anya, emerges from the wilderness covered in blood and bearing an unsettling resemblance to Effie’s younger self. Returning to the remote place she swore she’d never see again, she searches for answers about a murder and the fate of her lost family.
The story alternates between young Effie’s desperate life of neglect and secrets in the past and adult Effie’s current investigation by layering tension and revealing truths with perfect pacing making it hard not to be completely absorbed by Effie's strength and the heartbreaking plight of her siblings.
WHAT I THOUGHT: Effie’s struggle to reconcile her traumatic childhood memories with her current reality, is richly drawn. The secrets are complex, the twists are genuinely shocking, and the neglect and hardship she endured give the thriller depth.
Towards the end, the twists become almost too complicated and every one of the last few chapters, I thought might be at the end, but because I was reading on a Kindle, I continued to turn pages and there was more to read. It's a bit disorientating.
VERDICT: "The Vanishing Place" is a phenomenal debut that beautifully describes New Zealand's mysterious bush and a deeply disturbing mystery. It’s HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for readers who enjoy psychological thrillers where the setting is as important as the characters. You won't soon forget this story.
DISCLAIMER: A copy of "The Vanishing Place" was provided to me by Berkley Publishing Group /NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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