The Vanishing

The Vanishing (Fogg Lake 1)- Jayne Ann Krentz
Berkley/Penguin Group
Release Date: January 7, 2020

Rating:
📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Decades ago in the small town of Fogg Lake, The Incident occurred: an explosion in the cave system that released unknown gases. The residents slept for two days. When they woke up they discovered that things had changed—they had changed. Some started having visions. Others heard ominous voices. And then, scientists from a mysterious government agency arrived. Determined not to become research subjects of strange experiments, the residents of Fogg Lake blamed their “hallucinations” on food poisoning, and the story worked. But now it has become apparent that the eerie effects of The Incident are showing up in the descendants of Fogg Lake.…

Catalina Lark and Olivia LeClair, best friends and co-owners of an investigation firm in Seattle, use what they call their “other sight” to help solve cases. When Olivia suddenly vanishes one night, Cat frantically begins the search for her friend. No one takes the disappearance seriously except Slater Arganbright, an agent from a shadowy organization known only as the Foundation, who shows up at her firm with a cryptic warning.

A ruthless killer is hunting the only witnesses to a murder that occurred in the Fogg Lake caves fifteen years ago—Catalina and Olivia. And someone intends to make both women vanish.

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Jayne Ann Krentz (Untouchable) goes back to her paranormal romance/mystery genre with The Vanishing, although slightly different from what fans know and love.  In The Vanishing psychic powers come from the result of an 'Incident' decades ago at a hidden lab in Fogg Lake. Instead of the Arcane Society there is the Foundation, a shadow group that has been trying to help psychics (with mixed results) since the Incident.  Slater is one of the people who tracks down artifacts that potentially have paranormal provenance.  Recovering from an 'incident' of his own, he's not sure how stable he is or how ready he might be for another investigation, but things change when he meets Catalina.  He goes from investigating a potential cold case murder to helping Catalina search for her kidnapped friend and has to jump in the deep end when it comes to trusting his battered senses. 

Catalina is a sensible, cynical, investigator whose visions help read crime scenes.  She has no reason to trust the Foundation, but also has no choice since Slater is the only one who can help find Olivia.  Sparks fly between the two from the beginning and they work well together.  I found it enjoyable that every time Slater started getting worried about his altered senses and getting a little disturbed that Catalina wasn't panicking about him being a monster she would just shrug him off and tell him that she was too busy worrying about other things, but maybe later.  Her attitude worked well to help ground Slater, and for him  to realize that Catalina knows the difference between a real monster and someone whose powers are just a little different- and that 'different' doesn't bother her.  

One of the things I enjoyed most about the plot in The Vanishing was the personal aspect.  This wasn't an investigator in the course of a case discovering dark secrets that had nothing to do with her- this was Catalina's home town, her past, and her best friend on the line.  The urgency to find Olivia thrummed throughout the book, helped put a lot of things into perspective for Catalina and Slater, and kept the book's pacing moving quickly.  All the different characters and plot threads come together nicely at the end and still leave us with a few shadowy villains lurking for possible future books.  I was hoping for more details about the original 'incident' at Fogg Lake and the people there, but with luck some of those questions might be answered in the future as well.  Krentz's trademark dry humor runs throughout the book and keeps the reader smiling even in dangerous circumstances.  Readers of Krentz's Harmony series (Illusion Town) will feel right at home in the labyrinth of paranormal energy filled caves near Fogg Lake.  Overall, a fast-paced and enjoyable book that Krentz fans will be happy with, and a good introduction to her writing for new readers.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review