Vanishing Hour by Laura Griffin

When a cold case in Texas leads to a sinister string of disappearances, a newcomer to the small town helps a detective piece together the clues in this new romantic thriller from New York Times bestselling author Laura Griffin.

Corporate lawyer Ava Burch has had enough of the big city and the daily grind. She grew up with her father, who raised search-and-rescue dogs, in rural Texas and has moved to the small town of Cuervo to spend time in the dry, rugged wilderness near Big Bend National Park. When she and her dog, Huck, discover an abandoned campsite on a volunteer search-and-rescue mission, she’s perplexed, but she carefully photographs it all the same.

All Grant Wycoff can see when he looks at Ava is a city slicker—with her designer jeans and shiny car—who has no business on a serious team made of seasoned outdoorsmen and retired cops. But when she tells him of her findings on the trail, he sees there’s more to her than meets the eye.

Ava’s discovery reminds Grant of the unsolved case of a young woman who went missing two years ago. As they look into the campsite further, another woman disappears under odd circumstances. With time running out, Ava and Grant must work against the brutal heat from both the Texas sun and their own electric chemistry to solve the case.

 

 

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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is a really good romantic mystery, set in a small town in an unforgiving desert, where some really strange things are going on. Whilst Ava and Grant are obviously the leads in this book, the inclusion of Huck the crazy Lab, who is also a search and rescue dog, inherited by Ava from her dad, is absolutely essential.

The set-up of the antagonistic sheriff, the lack of respect for the voluntary work done by Ava to help find missing people, and the whole small town vibe definitely got the tension ramped up from the start. I am a bit of a wuz, it has to be admitted, but I did spend quite a lot of time waiting for something terrible to happen!

I was entranced by the setting; the descriptions of the desert landscape, with ravines and caves, and hiding places – barren, wild, and unforgiving, and yet beautiful in its wildness. It was easy to imagine the fear of losing someone out there, and of the need for a dog to help find them. And easy to imagine how there were parallels with the issues holding Ava and Grant back from the romance they both clearly are interested in pursuing. Ava, in particular, is hiding in plain sight from an unpleasant previous relationship with another lawman, so wants to avoid similar entanglements.

Full of twists and turns and little bursts of humour to lighten what is a pretty dark drama. Be warned, difficult to put down, keep a snack to hand for extended reading!


Avid Reader – ☆☆☆☆
M/F Mystery Romance

This was a great story. The main characters, Ava, Grant, and, of course, the dog, Huck, are really well developed. You get to see their working side and their personal side equally, and both create complex characters that are easy to relate to.

Ava is working as a lawyer in a tiny town. She's decided she's done with big corporate law. But with the arrival of her new law firm, she is also one of the locally trained SAR workers, along with her dog, Huck. Huck is a great add to the characters since even though it's a dog, you can see the easy demeanor and ease that all of the other characters feel around him.

Grant is working back home. A place he didn't think he would come back to. But now that he's here, he wants the people of his town to be safe and for people coming from out of town to feel safe too. But with an elected official above him who does the bare minimum, it will take all of Grant's knowledge to figure out what's happening around their tiny town.

You will not be disappointed in this book. The scenery is described in a way that you feel like you're standing right next to the characters and the story has several twists and turns, both mysterious and personal for the characters. It's a quick read, but really well done.

 

 

LAURA GRIFFIN is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than twenty-five books and novellas. She is a two-time RITA Award winner, as well as the recipient of the Daphne du Maurier Award.

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ARC provided by

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Vanishing Hour by Laura Griffin to read and review.