The Vanishing Point - Softcover

McDermid, Val

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1443410489 ISBN 13: 9781443410489

Publisher: HarperWeekend, 2013

Synopsis

Stephanie Harker is travelling through O’Hare airport with five-year-old Jimmy when she is stopped at a security checkpoint. Outside, Jimmy is led away by a uniformed officer. Stephanie’s panic leads security to believe she is a threat, while the child disappears into the distance. When Stephanie has a chance to tell her story, family secrets emerge that lie at the heart of a tale of death, deception and the extraordinary lengths to which a parent will go to protect their child.

About this title

About the Author

VAL McDERMID is the internationally bestselling author of more than twenty crime novels. She has won the CWA Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel of the Year and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; her novels have been selected as New York Times Notable Books and have been Edgar Award finalists. She was the 2010 recipient of the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Crime Writing. More than 10 million copies of her books have been sold around the world. She lives in the north of England. Visit her website at www.valmcdermid.com.

From Publishers Weekly

Putting her series characters Tony Hill and Carol Jordan on the back burner temporarily, McDermid (The Retribution) delivers a solid stand-alone combining the high-stakes hunt for a missing child with the dark underbelly of celebrity culture. Usually content to work behind the scenes, ghostwriter Stephanie Harker's world changes when she signs on to write reality-TV star Scarlett Higgins's autobiography. A brash former contestant from the fictional British show Goldfish Bowl, Scarlett has made a career out of being outspoken. Stephanie and Scarlett develop an unlikely friendship, and Stephanie grows attached to Scarlett's son, Jimmy, whose father is a fame-crazed DJ. When Scarlett discovers she's dying of cancer, the question of Jimmy's future looms large. Since McDermid opens with a chilling scene in which five-year-old son Jimmy, traveling with Stephanie, is snatched from Chicago's O'Hare Airport, it's clear whom Scarlett ultimately chooses to look after her son. Stephanie and Scarlett's often tumultuous relationship is glimpsed in flashbacks, juxtaposed with the present-day search for Jimmy, hampered both by the fact that he's not Stephanie's son and the slickness of a kidnapper who leaves no tracks. Though Stephanie is quickly forgettable, larger-than-life Scarlett is a chance for McDermid to explore a different kind of ugliness than she tackles in her series novels. (Sept. 2012)

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperWeekend
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1443410489
• ISBN 13: 9781443410489
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 704