Looking for a short thriller novel with twists and turns? Check out The Vanished Boy by Harmony Kent. If you’re a Law & Order: SVU fan, then this book may be right up your alley! Check out my book review below to get a feel.
This book is exactly how I picture a true suspense, thriller novel to be. At first, I was a little weary of the pace – it was slow for the first three or four chapters and then picked up in the middle. But once the pace increased and more of the plot was revealed, I couldn’t put it down!
Jayden’s a normal teenager. Or so his mother thought. When his father died when he was 11, both he and his mother drifted apart. Carol soon realizes that she doesn’t know her son as well as thought after he disappears one Friday night after a study session with some friends. She soon finds herself spiraling down through his life, checking social media and bank accounts she never knew he had. Eventually, she learns the truth behind Jay’s disappearance.
The author did a brilliant job of describing a grief stricken mother. Whether that be about the loss of her husband or her child, she perfectly captured the emotional turmoil behind losing everything and everyone near and dear. The book itself is written in more of a literary style with little dialogue between the characters. Because of this, I believe it gave the book a consistent somber tone throughout the story and increased the suspense of every clue Carol uncovered about her son.
Carol meets a lot of people along the way which play more of a secondary role. We don’t learn too much about them other than the information one would need to find Jayden with or move the plot along. I think this fits well with this story type of story since the chapters are spaced out over the course of 5 days.
With that being said, the chapters are rather long, spanning over the course of 30+ pages. This, of course, is a personal preference for me, but I tend to enjoy shorter chapters and I think that would have helped the overall pace of the book.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and I believe the author has a talent for this sort of genre!
Author Harmony Kent has a plethora of other stories in all kinds of genres available on Amazon. Check out her content for yourself. There’s bound to be a story that catches your eye!
Happy reading!
Author Lauren Eason 