‘Vanished’ – Kat Richardson (Roc/Piatkus)

Kat Richardson’s ‘Greywalker’ series is one that I’ve been meaning to have a look at for a while now, especially after I picked up the first book and saw mention of zombies in the Seattle sewers... :o) It took me a while but I finally got round to it and, as is usual with me, I’m starting four books into the series (which wasn’t really a problem this time round, more on that in a bit). There weren’t any zombies here but that didn’t matter though as there was plenty for me to get my teeth into. At the same time however, something didn’t seem quite right...

Harper Blaine is a special kind of private investigator; she died for two minutes and now she is able to walk the fine line between our world and that of ‘The Grey’, home of everything supernatural. The thing is though that loads of people have near death experiences, why aren’t they all ‘Greywalkers’ like Harper?
Harper’s attempts to dig up information on her past are interrupted by a job offer that she cannot refuse; a particularly demanding vampire has a job for her in London. As the investigation progresses however, it becomes clear that there is more than one link to Harper’s past. If Harper can get out of London alive she will find out just exactly what her destiny as a Greywalker entails...

While ‘Vanished’ may be the fourth book in the ‘Greywalker’ series but a healthy dose of scene setting fills in the gaps and makes this a book that newcomers can get straight into. Harper’s discovery of her past also gives ‘Vanished’ a sense of having a strong foundation; this really is a book that will tell you everything that you need to know!

‘Vanished’ turned out to be the perfect book to take on holiday; great to get lost in for an hour or two but easy to put down if you wanted to go for a swim or something like that. This was really down to a lead character that didn’t live up to the potential brimming over in the plot itself...

I just couldn’t get much of a feel for who Harper Blaine actually was and this isn’t something that I find particularly appealing in a lead character. To be fair, ‘Vanished’ is the fourth book in a series and long term fans may already have all the information to hand. It may also be that we find out a lot more about Harper in the next book (it certainly looks like this could be the case!) It just felt to me that while we really got to know characters such as Harper’s mother, Marsden and the vampire chief Edward we never really got to know Harper herself. There needs to be some kind of hook to get me involved with a character that’s driving the story; I couldn’t find it and the book felt disjointed as a result...



This was a real shame as, despite a lack of depth to the lead character, ‘Vanished’ still managed to be an exciting affair with a mystery that kept my attention the whole way through. The world of ‘The Grey’ is a strange, forbidding place and mixing this setting with the murky backstreets of London was a fine move on Richardson’s part. In this respect, ‘Vanished’ oozes atmosphere which brings the tension of the story into sharp relief.

The plot is a particularly tense affair with a mystery to be solved, everything to play for and the constant feeling that no-one can really be trusted. Alliances change at the drop of a hat (or death of a vampire...) and it’s all credit to Richardson that it all fits together so well by the end of the book. Richardson also pulls out all the stops when writing scenes of supernatural confrontation with moments when you are left in no doubt as to what Harper must face down. Some of the climatic scenes had my heart pumping!

If it wasn’t for a lightweight lead character, ‘Vanished’ would be superb. As it is, it’s still very good but I was left thinking that it could have been more. Having said that, I would pick up the next instalment to see where things go next...

Eight out of Ten