The Vanished

New kid in school, Alistair Fraser, has a great idea for reviving circulation of the student newspaper, include stories of the bizarre and unexplained. They try it, and find that it works so much better than the newspaper staff could have ever hoped for. But, there's something strange going on - the stories that the other students start sending in all point towards a frightening truth. Someone or something is prowling city - children have been disappearing for over one hundred years, and they are disappearing again. When newspaper photographer Jake Saunders' sister disappears it becomes a race against time if they are to bring her back alive! I must say that this is a fantastic book. The author did a great job of starting out with a story about teens and school, and slowly turning it into a story of blackest terror. By the end, you are on the edge of your seat, afraid to put the book down...afraid to turn out the lights. I think that this is a great work of horror, and I am very glad that I read it. I found it frightening, and yet not bloody, a real book right out of the Frankenstein and Dracula bookshelf. I highly recommend this book to everyone who likes horror.

Don't have time to read your horror? Let Shirley Barthelmie read it to you! In this five CD set lies a terrible secret, a blood chilling horror that only begins with every parent's nightmare...and THEN it gets scary. Alistair Fraser is new at high school, suffering emotional anguish caused by a family tragedy. Jake Saunders is the school geek, a talented photographer, spelunker and doting brother of little sister Amy. Both boys are enamored of Cassie, editor of the school newspaper, setting the stage for some jealousy and misdirection. Into the mix comes the mysterious, homeless Billy who may know more about the latest bouts of child disappearances than he lets on. And then Amy disappears.... I LOVED this story and the way it was told. Barthelmie has at least six main characters for whom she must produce distinct voices--and she does. I could always tell who was speaking even when no tags of "he said" and "she said" were present. As for the characters...there may not be the depth demanded for longer and more complicated fictions, but there is depth enough that we sympathize with Fraser's tragic history, Jake's love for his younger sister, Cassie's single-minded determination to make her newspaper the best there is and even with the strange and uncanny Billy's secret sorrows. There are a few loose ends that are never tied up (at least I don't recall them being tied up...what exactly happened to Cassie in the closet...and where are those seven steps the kids talk about? For that matter, who are the children Cassie and Jake see with Billy?) Still, these are minor points in a supremely spooky and satisfying tale.

I bought a copy of this book on my way through London's airport, thinking it looked interesting. It was more than a year ago and I just picked the book up yesterday to finally read it. All I can say is, "What took me so long?" This book has a wonderful plot, well developed characters, and is very S-P-O-O-K-Y without all the gore of so many scary novels! The atmosphere and plot are rich with visual imagery! I haven't read anything by Celia Rees before, but after this, I intend to order several of her other novels. Buy the Book! You'll love it!