Review: Vanished by Elizabeth Heiter

Title: Vanished   

Author: Elizabeth Heiter    

Series: The Profiler, #2      

Published: December 2014, MIRA  

Format: ARC Paperback, 400 pages    

Source: Author  

Sometimes the past can haunt you…

Eighteen
years ago, FBI profiler Evelyn Baine s best friend, Cassie Byers,
disappeared, the third in a series of unsolved abductions. Only a
macabre nursery rhyme was left at the scene, a nursery rhyme that
claimed Evelyn was also an intended victim. Now, after all these years
of silence, another girl has gone missing in South Carolina, and the
Nursery Rhyme Killer is taking credit. But is Cassie s abductor really
back, or is there a copycat at work?

Sometimes the past is best forgotten…

Evelyn
has waited eighteen years for a chance to investigate, but when she
returns to Rose Bay, she finds a dark side to the seemingly idyllic
town. As the place erupts in violence and the kidnapper strikes again,
Evelyn knows this is her last chance. If she doesn t figure out what
happened to Cassie eighteen years ago, it may be Evelyn s turn to vanish
without a trace.

My thoughts: This is the second book in Elizabeth Heiter’s The Profiler series and I couldn’t wait to start reading it. I was fortunate to get an advanced copy for the author herself, but me being me, I needed to read the first book in the series, Hunted, first. After devouring that one, I was quite excited to pick this one up.

In Vanished, Evelyn is working on the case that has basically driven her to become involved in the FBI in the first place. She is called in to give a profile of the Nursery Rhyme Killer – the same killer that took her best friend from childhood, Cassie. Cassie’s disappearance has haunted Evelyn and driven her her whole life. But is she really the best person to get involved in this case? Can she stay detached enough to do her job to her fullest capacity?

I devoured this book – read it in a day and could not put it down. From the first page, I was hooked and needed to find out what was going to happen next. Between the twists and turns, the red herrings thrown in, I had a hard time figuring out who was behind the kidnappings. I thought I had it figured out early on, but found that to be a wrong guess. 

I loved that Mac was nearby and could lend support to Evelyn throughout this case. It definitely wasn’t an easy case for her to be working on, and as much as she wanted to be the one to finally provide answers about what happened with Cassie, I loved how she herself questioned whether she was the best profiler for this job. This just makes her that much more believable and relatable as a character. At the end of Hunted, something had definitely changed between Evelyn and Mac and I liked how things were still in that unknown stage…where did they stand? I like that they aren’t rushing into anything – yes, this isn’t a romance novel, but still, no need to rush a romance and Elizabeth Heiter does not!

Now that this case is solved, I wonder how it will affect Evelyn’s motivation for her job. After all, this is what drove her to be at the top of her game for so long – so what comes next for her? I can’t wait to find out in the next Profiler book…but in the meantime, I think I’ll be checking out Elizabeth Heiter’s other series that comes out this year – The Lawman series. Need something to fill my time until the next Profiler book!

Books in this series:

1. Hunted
2. Vanished