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Vanished

A Luca Mystery, Book 2

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Vanished

By: Dan Petrosini
Narrated by: Andrew Start
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Summary

Obsession can be deadly. That's what Dom Stewart discovers when his buddy, Phil, goes missing. Dom has long coveted Robin, Phil's beautiful wife...is it time for him to step in? Detective Luca is also dazzled by Robin - even while acknowledging she may be involved in Phil's disappearance. Luca struggles with his heart as the investigation reveals the case is about much more than a missing man. Something dark and disturbing is behind the scenes. Is there a murder here?

As fraud and romantic interests verging on pathological fixation emerge, the question remains: What happened to Phil?

©2017 Dan Petrosini (P)2018 Dan Petrosini Modern Detectives Mystery Police Procedural Fiction Heartfelt Suspense
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Phil and Robin had been married for ten years when she reported him missing. They both earned good money, she more than him, and he'd failed to come home some nights: he was a womaniser. But this time he hadn't come home at all. Had he decided to simply run away or had something happened to him? No traces of him anywhere, dead or alive.
Whilst Phil's best friend tries to comfort the abandoned wife, Frank Luka has the task of trying to find out what has happened, assisted by his new female partner who seems pleasant but has weird ideas like interpreting dreams and alternative therapies. Not like his old friend and partner who had died.

This is a well constructed mystery, with alternating chapters giving the first person viewpoints of Luka and the dead man's friend, Dom Stewart. As time passes, both go through crises, one of illness and the other of hopes for a cherished relationship, and the case of the missing husband very slowly evolves. Without violent action but with attention to detail, and covering a considerable time, this is an intriguing and tense character based procedural thriller which has a feel of reality.

The book is well read by Andrew Start, well paced with just the right amount of inflection and good intonation for both of the main characters. He also gives distinctive voicings to the dialogue of the other protagonists and carries the story forward in a way appropriate to the text. A good narration.

Vanished is slightly unusual in that, although case focused, it also follows the lives and inner workings of two of the characters over a more than a year long period of time, with shifting circumstances altering their outlooks. Very interesting. My thanks to the rights holder for freely gifting me a complimentary copy of this book, at my request, via Audiobook Boom. This is the second in a series, apparently, but is completely standalone with no knowledge of book one being necessary to fully enjoy this one. Recommended.

Sometimes you can get more with candy than vinegar

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This was a good audiobook with lots of tension and drama throughout.
The story builds and gives great detail and insight to the characters.

I loved how you never quite felt like you knew everything but you always had suspicions.

The narration was good. My only complaint was that 2 male characters sounded very similar to my ear and that meant I got lost on occasion between who was speaking. It in no way spoils the book and the experience.

This is a great mystery story that should appeal to those loving that genre, however I would urge anyone that likes a thriller or an intricate story to give it a go as well.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily provided this impartial review.

Great story that pulls you along and draws you in!

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Listener received this title free

I enjoyed this book and think If you like a moden day detective with a few flaws then this is the book/series for you. I like the way author doesn't solve the mystery in a few hours like they do on TV and you really get the sence that it might end up a cold case even go unsolved. It had a nice use of forensic to solve it but what was really nice is the detective is human with problem and not a fighting machine that can get out of any situation he finds himself in.
With the homicide rate at a low Luca finds himself working other areas of the police department, it's either do that or look at a cold case. Which is why he finding himself looking in the disappearance of a married man. What starts as a simple missing person case soon gets very complicated with contradicting statements from witnesses or changed statements pointing at suspects but as the information get dribble to them Luca feels more is going on and soon narrows down his suspect list, if only he could find the evidence to back him up.
The narrator was good and I enjoyed his style of talking.

Don't let this book vanish before you listen to it

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A good storyline, which I did enjoy. Well worth a listen. I will be listening to more by Dan.

A good listen

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This really wasn't what I was expecting. It definitely wasn't a 'who done it' but more of a 'how did he do it'. There was a lot of clever stuff in the plot but it was slow going. Sure, it seemed closer to real life and I liked that but I felt it could have been handled much better by the author to make it flow. I did feel I learned more about bladder problems than anything else, which is ok but not quite what I had anticipated in a thriller.

The characterisation was also a bit lame, particularly of Lucas' partner. I also deeply disliked the way she was voiced by the narrator. She sounded like she'd stepped right out of a 1950s cartoon and was the ditzy, big boobed, tiny waisted blonde.
Other than that the narration was ok. Dom came off extremely unlikeable though. Sure, he was an unlikeable character but it would have been far more interesting to feel he believed he was a good guy.

A bit plodding

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