Book Review: Vanishing Hour by Laura Griffin

This is my first book by Laura Griffin, and first try at a romance thriller. I’m glad I gave Vanishing Hour a try, because I actually enjoyed the writing style and mystery throughout story. While romance is part of the storyline, the main focus is on the mystery of the missing women whose unsolved disappearances have not been solved by law enforcement.

Ava Burch is an attorney who’s recently relocated from the big city to Cuervo, Texas. In search of a better life, she’s done with big city life and will now practice law in this small town. She, along with her dog, Hank, are volunteers for Search and Rescue missions. That means, anytime a person goes missing in Big Bend National Forest, she and Hank get involved in the search.

It’s during one of those rescue missions, that Ava stumbles upon an abandoned campsite. The contents of the campsite immediately ring bells in her head, so she takes pictures and reports the scene to the Sheriff. He’s uninterested and brushes her off, but Deputy Sheriff Grant Wycoff doesn’t. He talks to her about her findings, and they visit the campsite together. From then on, they continue to meet and the romance aspect of the storyline progresses.

In the meantime, various search-and-rescue missions come up, and the investigations for a few missing women continue. There are many suspects and twists, so this is a fast-paced story full of mystery and suspense. I listened to the audiobook and couldn’t put it down. The more information I learned about the missing women, the more I wanted to know how the story would end.

My only quibble about the story, is that Ava did too much sleuthing on her own. She took so many risks, that by a certain point the story felt implausible. To avoid spoilers, I’ll leave it at that.

Overall, this is a truly engaging story from beginning to end. I look forward to reading more by this author.

Have you enjoyed any books by Laura Griffin?