The Vanishing Hour By Seraphina Nova Glass- Summary

Goodreads summary of The Vanishing Hour By Seraphina Nova Glass (my review below):

From the Edgar Award–nominated author of On a Quiet Street comes a shocking thriller about secrets…and the lengths some people will go to keep them.

Grace Holloway keeps to herself. Since narrowly escaping death at the hands of the man who kidnapped her, she’s thrown herself into the small inn she runs in Rock Harbor, Maine. It’s quiet, quaint, and, in the off-season, completely isolated—the perfect place for Grace to keep her own secrets.

But Grace isn’t the only one with something to hide, and Rock Harbor isn’t just a sleepy vacation town. Someone is taking young women—girls who look an awful lot like Grace did when she was kidnapped so many years ago.

When a surge of disappearances brings the investigation to her door, Grace finds herself unwillingly at the center of it all and doing everything she can to keep her distance because Grace knows something…something that could change everything. And when the truth comes to light, getting justice for the vanished might be more than Grace can handle alone…

The Vanishing Hour By Seraphina Nova Glass- Review

If you have read my review of Seraphina Nova Glass’ last novel, On A Quiet Street, you know how much it meant to me. If you haven’t read the review, it is linked! For anyone who even LIKED it, it is essential to know that The Vanishing Hour is nothing like On A Quiet Street. It isn’t a cul-de-sac. The Vanishing Hour is a phenomenal book. It solidifies my love for Seraphina Nova Glass.

This slow-roll thriller personifies books that inch up the rollercoaster, slowly clenching your stomach and your ratcheting up your pulse. All this to plummet you down the first drop, sending your heart racing. At one point, during the last twenty-five percent, I felt my hand slowly reach to my throat. You know that book line (which I’m sick of), I let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding? I held my breath for so long that I thought I would pass out.

Thank you to Harper Audio/Graydon House for an advanced audio copy of The Vanishing Hour, releasing May 30th.

Do not misunderstand me. The first seventy-five percent isn’t slowly paced. Instead, Seraphina Nova Glass intentionally takes time to build Grace, Aden, and Kira’s stories. Then, she slowly reveals how their stories come together as a mysterious, devastating web. A web that brings disbelief, destruction, and anger at the brutal truth to a head. Throughout The Vanishing Hour, there is an enthralling mystery with multiple red herrings. But, equally important, these misdirect are laid out in a way that, when you look back and realize, was there all along. Meanwhile, what you thought was there, what was really there, and what you (probably) thought you knew? You actually had no clue. I couldn’t even buy a clue.

The Vanishing Hour By Seraphina Nova Glass- Characters

Not only does each character have their own voice, but their entire families are unique and different. Moreover, the characters’ personalities and individual states of mind are thoroughly explored. Seraphina Nova Glass’ impeccable writing raises the stakes throughout The Vanishing Hour by bringing a mother’s distress, the trauma of a survivor, and a family’s fear to the forefront.

Both the primary and supporting characters are all flawed. While reading The Vanishing Hour, I couldn’t rule anyone out, as everyone seemed a suspect, yet seemingly no one at all. Consequently, the mystery and plausible solutions are engaging and suspenseful.

The Vanishing Hour By Seraphina Nova Glass- Audiobook And Final Thoughts

The audiobook of The Vanishing Hour is produced exceptionally, with all points of view labeled and clear (except when purposely not labeled because… mystery). Brittany Pressley always nails the assignment as a narrator. However, in The Vanishing Hour, she nailed the extra credit.

At one point, I wondered if Brittany Pressley purposely shredded her voice to bring across specific scenarios and actions with acute believability. She was purposed with nailing a female, male, captured, and capturer. Each one is done absolutely brilliantly. If Brittany Pressley didn’t purposefully shred her throat, I imagine recording this audiobook did the job.