David Raker is recuperating in Devon when an old friend asks for his help. Her sister, brother-in-law and two children have disappeared under strange circumstances. The hunt to discover what happened spans an ocean and brings Raker in touch with pure evil.
There's nothing quite like a book that, as soon as you've finished reading it, you want to immediately pick up the next one in the series. Vanished, book 3 in the David Raker series, is one of those books. The cliffhanger ending leaves you desperate to know what happens next. Luckily, I'm new to the series by Tim Weaver, so I didn't have to wait a year or two for author to write the next book in the series, Never Coming Back.
The events in the book take the series to a whole new level. The scope, both in theme and geography, is so much greater than anything Raker has faced before. Raker has relocated from London and has no plans for an immediate return to searching for the missing. Ex-police officer Colm Healey is staying with Raker in a small fishing village when a body is discovered. This coincides with an old friend asking Raker for help.
Emily's family disappeared almost a year ago under mysterious circumstances. Food was left cooking, all their possessions still remained, and even the family dog was left unattended. Given the events of the previous book, you can understand Raker's reluctance to get involved. However, he finds it difficult to say no to a friend, and he's intrigued as to how a group of four people can disappear so quickly and completely.
The relationship between Raker and Healey remains fractious. Healey is still struggling to come to terms with losing his job and doesn't understand why Raker isn't interested in finding out more about the body that was discovered. As the pair carry out their separate investigations, the rift between them widens.
As Raker digs deeper into the disappearance, your apprehension begins to grow. With events jumping between 2007, 2011 and 2012 (when the story is set) as well as moving between Devon and Las Vegas, it doesn't look like there will be a successful outcome this time round. Raker finds himself in some precarious situations; I was holding my breath on a number of occasions. Not everyone is as they seem, and this adds to the perilous circumstances Raker has to deal with.
The conclusion is a somber one. As a reader, I empathised with Raker's feelings of hopelessness and failure. In real life, cases like this don't have a 100% success rate, and the author is giving us a grim taste of reality. There is a brief glimpse of hope, however, and I'm keen to see where this takes Raker in the next installment.
Author Details
Tim Weaver is the Sunday Times bestselling author of fifteen novels, including No One Home, The Blackbird and The Last Goodbye, and a short story collection. He is also the host and producer of the chart-topping Missing podcast and is currently developing an original TV series with the team behind Line of Duty. A former journalist and magazine editor, he lives near Bath with his wife and daughter.
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