A commendable work of blending friendship, family and a quest for truth in a cold case of three decades. The characters are all relatable and garner sympathy. The final pages emphasise the value of human relations beyond lust. The unintended victimisation of children is adequately highlighted. Well done.

Those Who Disappeared is a literary cold case mystery, about an artist searching for the truth about his father, who disappeared while climbing in the Alps before he was born, by a British author who is new to me. I’m fortunate to be Pre-Approved by Amazon UK on NetGalley, and was drawn to the stunning cover image, so downloaded this on a whim, and ended up enjoying the writing as well as the gentle unraveling of the truth. It’s not a thriller, there’s not much suspense, and it takes a while to get going, but it’s a short fluid read and never boring.

Foster Treherne is a successful Anglo-American painter in his early thirties, whose career took off early, causing some jealousy amongst his peers, and now lives a quiet life in Berlin. Left an orphan by the suicide of his mother while he was still an infant, he has kept his distance from close relationships, to focus on his work. When the body of his father, Charlie, is found preserved in ice after an avalanche, showing evidence of a possible altercation, Foster is determined to learn more about the man he always dreamed would return for him. Tracking down his parents’ friends from that time, a secretive group who called themselves the Piranesi club, he senses they are hiding something from him, so armed with Charlie’s journal, his convenient wealth, and assisted by a beautiful diplomatic aide, Foster embarks on an obsessive quest for the truth that will change everything he thought he knew about his life.

I know almost nothing about the Art world, so it was fun to have our protagonist be a famous artist who’s unafraid to use his celebrity and connections to further his investigation, but he is refreshingly down to earth, considerate and modest at the same time. It’s a kind of Coming of Age story as Foster finds out the truth about his parents and matures emotionally as a result. There are some likeable support characters, a romance that doesn’t get in the way of the plot, no sex or violence and the mystery was interesting enough to keep me guessing. The side-plot about the threatening letters was a bit of a letdown, although does become relevant later.
I’d happily read more from this author. Thanks to Amazon UK & NetGalley for the ARC which allowed me to give an honest review. Those Who Disappeared is published on March 15th.

This is the first novel I’ve read by Kevin Wignall and I really enjoyed it. Foster Trehearne is a successful artist who never knew his parents. When his father’s body is found in the ice where he disappeared whilst hiking in bad weather, it should bring him closure. Instead, a few things don’t quite add up and he starts questioning his parents’ friends from that time, trying to work out the truth.
An easy suspenseful read.

Thank you NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a unique and fascinating story that kept me reading to the very end. I enjoyed the premise and the development and reveal of the characters throughout. The length was perfect as was the degree of detail. Based on this novel, I would seek out more books by Kevin Wignall.

I couldn’t put this book down. It’s writing and characters are so addictive that I had to read everything in one sitting and barely been aware of what’s going on around me.
I was intrigued to know more of each character and what actually happened thirty years ago with Foster’s father and if his assumptions were correct or not.
It was interesting to see him traveling around Europe and met with some very interesting characters and retelling stories from those years when they lived so freely or so it seemed like.
It was my first book by the author but won’t be the last I’ll be reading for sure.

This book follows Foster, a rising artist who had never met his father and lost his mother young, so he created what he thought his parents were. When the long lost body of his father is recovered, the fairy tale he created about the man starts to dissolve. Curious to know who he was, leads Foster to dig deeper in the short life his father led, the relationships he had with Foster's mother and their tight-knit group of friends and how that might have contributed to his disappearance.

It is interesting to dissect what we think of our parents. If we resent them, put them on a pedestal, or if we even know who they are outside of "Mom" or "Dad". How much is hidden from us? How much are we just blind to?

As Foster continues down this path, the reader is asked to contemplate if we really ever fully know who are are parents are, especially before having us. Do our past mistakes taint our futures? What happens when a parent doesn't live up to your expectations?

I think sometimes we don't really think about our parents as "people". They had lives before us (whether short or long) and any mistakes, issues, personality quirks, or life choices make them human, just like us.

What are my kids going to think of me when I'm older?

Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for providing me an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for this honest and unbiased review. First time I've read a book by Kevin Wignall. I love this book but not very much turn and twisted. A well-written interesting story involving young man’s search for the truth. I found the writing incredibly engaging, with a well crafted plot and incredibly interesting characters. This mystery has a great plot, and, as usual, the storytelling is very smooth. The characters are fantastic, and all in all this is a very entertaining and intriguing book. This book has those qualities still but provides a deeper response that resonates with my whole being. This is why I will continue to enjoy his books and easily recommend then to others.

This is a rattling good mystery yarn that keeps the reader turning the pages. Much hangs on an old photograph of which I won't say too much here.
Kevin Wignall takes the reader into several worlds: irresponsible graduate student parties, the world of high art (and high prices), an Alpine terrain and the perrenial theme of the mystery - romantic entanglement,
There is a hint of the formulaic as the plot unfolds; and a deliberate glossing over of the mundane details of taking flights, hiring cars, renting hotel rooms - "assistants" are there to do all that as in the James Bond plotlines. Perhaps a film script is tucked inside these pages too?

Book Review: Those Who Disappeared by Kevin Wignall
(Published by Amazon Publishing UK, March 15, 2021)

4.25 Stars.

32 years earlier, Handeck, Bern, Switzerland.

It was a relatively warm Alpine October day. Twenty-five-year-old Charles Treherne, nature lover, privileged background, educated at Bennington, a boarding school in New Hampshire, Yale degree, postgraduate history student at the University of Bologna, Italy, sets out with his backpack from the Swiss pension at daybreak for a day's hike on an isolated mountain trail atop the nearby glacier.

That morning, he goes without his travel companion who wasn't feeling well. He knew he was taking a risk.

It was the last people would see of him alive.

Charles joined the long list of many of those who disappeared, lost and buried in the Alpine mountain range...

32 years later.

Thirty two-year-old Berlin-based American figurative painter Foster Treherne, renowned "Little Boy Lost of American Art" on account of his heritage, is firmly established at the top tier on the world stage.

He gets a phone call from Bern.

The body of his long-lost father - the father he never knew, was found by a hiker at the "accumulation zone", the higher part of a glacier, uncovered after an avalanche.

They'd also recovered Charles Treherne's backpack, his hiking boots, jacket and a journal. Three buttons in a row were missing on the jacket, possibly the sign of a struggle. But if he'd fallen off an ice ledge, anything could have happened.

"ICE BODY IS LEADING ARTIST'S LONG-LOST FATHER". The New York Times publishes a story of the grim recovery with a photo. It is of Charles Treherne with five friends in Italy, including Foster's mom, then 23-year-old Lucy Foster, a English student also at the U. of Bologna. His parents were never married. She'd committed suicide a year after his birth.

The NYT story includes only one other name in the caption apart from Treherne. The second name, Chris Hamblyn, is now a journalist at the Rome bureau of the Times.

Foster decides to call Mr. Hamblyn to find anything he could tell about his father - his parents.

He also remembers the same Times photo in the belongings of Charles packed and given to him by his paternal grandma.

That photo has seven instead of six people - six friends with Charles Treherne.

The photo presented with the NYT report had been doctored. Someone's been carefully airbrushed off the picture...

-----

With a writing style so fluid and easy to speed-read, Author Kevin Wignall's stories specialize in compartmentalized dust-ups, power plays, and confrontations, no major paradigm shifts in the singularity - and yet ever so original and quite creative - and keeps you at the edge of your seat.

The protagonists in his stories are flawed, tragic, and invariably are determined and out to set things right. Which are precisely what make them compelling and easy to empathize with.

"Those Who Disappeared" is no exception. Another great read from the author!

Review based on an ARC from Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley.

Interesting book.
First time I've read a book by Kevin Wignall. I didn't love this book, but also didn't dislike it.
It was interesting because there was no big reveal and the typical bad guy (but was he bad? You never really quite know for sure) was already dead.

All I can really say is interesting

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Foster learns that is Father's body was found near a glacier. He went missing over three decades. When Foster tries to talk to his fathers friends, he hits a roadblock. This book kept me interested from start to finish.

Seeking answers from the past…

Never having known his parents Foster Treherne, a renowned artist, hasn’t given them much thought until now, he was raised by grandparents who at best were distant, nannies, and boarding school. After 32 years the body of his father is found in the Swiss Alps, his remains disinterred by an avalanche on a glacier. As a child, Foster wondered if the father who had disappeared would someday walk into his life, and his father has but not in the way the child in Foster could have imagined. Contacted with the news by an embassy worker who is a fan of his works Foster embarks on a journey of discovery of who his parents were and we see how it affects him, the good and the bad things he learns, and the mystery that his father’s death turned out to be. There is a level of curiosity in all of us and the thought that there might have been more to his father’s death than a tragic accident on the slopes demands he investigate. Foster’s search begins within the pages of the journal found on his father’s person, and those the man once befriended described in the only thoughts Foster has ever had of his father.

The tragic circumstances surrounding Foster’s beginnings have always defined him, a father who mysteriously vanished months before his birth, a mother who committed suicide a year after he was born. This story is the psychological study of a man who has had to make his way on his own and in his thirties seeks to obtain some closure, some understanding of where he came from, and the knowledge he obtains inevitably alters his life, his relationships, and his perception of all he had known. Foster is a likable, relatable complex character, though much a loner type of individual his internal dialogue shows us how much more there is to him than people around him are allowed to see. Foster is an individual who understands what it is to be lost amongst a crowd yet he is a highly functional insightful person. I liked the use of published articles about the artist to tell us what the world knew of him.

This is not the first time I have read this author and won’t be the last. The story was well-written and nicely paced, it had a captivating storyline, a decades-long mystery, the unraveling of secrets long kept, well-developed characters, and descriptions that so easily visually take you into the world you are reading about.

An advanced reading copy was obtained from the publisher via NetGalley.

I found this a bit slow to get into but once I did, I enjoyed it, A story of a father and son who never knew each other and the journey of the son discovering who his father was and the life he led.. This was very different to Kevin Wignall's other books, more of a mystery and I have to say I prefer his spy stories but in saying so still a fine effort. Thank you to Netgalley and the author for the opportunity to read this book..

First of all, I think Foster might be one of my favorite characters from a thriller...ever. He seemed so personable and down to earth, especially given the horrors in his past. All in all, I really enjoyed this book. It was a fun ride and the air of mystery followed you basically until the last page. I will say I wish there had been a bit more of a twist, but it's still a wonderful read without it! Thank you so much to both Kevin Wignall and Thomas & Mercer for letting me read and review this book!

This was a gentle read, I thought there might have been a twist at the end. A sad story as a boy’s illusions about his father are destroyed by investigating his death. Enjoyable

I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

"Those Who Disappeared" is the story of an artist's search for the truth of his father's disappearance and death.

This book is beautifully written. The descriptions and details absorb the reader and make you feel you know the characters and locations personally. The workings of the art world are vividly imagined, and the emotions of love and loss are felt throughout, due to the author's use of descriptive phrasing.

I would recommend this book, and would rate it five out of five.

"He called the emergency services. He'd found a body, and somewhere out there were loved ones who'd been waiting years maybe even decades for news of the man whose body was suspended in front of Brett now, like an insect preserved in amber from another age."

Those Who Disappeared starting off strong. with a tense atmosphere surrounding the discovery of famed artist Foster Treherne's father who has been missing for 30 years. I was hooked from the start, but for me the book started to get repetitive as Foster was visiting his Father's old friends trying to unearth the truth about his Father's final days. The ending was also a disappointing as I was able to guess what happened really quite early on in the book.

Overall Those Who Disappear is a quick read, and a simple mystery surrounding family secrets.

I am a huge Kevin Wignall fan. He has set a high standard for terse, well written, suspense novels. Unfortunately, THOSE WHO DISAPPEARED, falls short of his usual excellence. Foster Treherne, a renowned artist, searches for clues about his father’s death, which was before he was born. Charles Treherne’s body was found in a glacier 32 years after he died. Was it murder, or just an unfortunate accident? His son, Foster, is determined to find his father’s college friends to find out the truth about his father. The wealthy friends seem to be hiding the entire story from Foster. He jet sets across Europe to investigate. The languid storyline is enveloped by art aficionados, and lovely European scenery. Of course he has an obligatory love affair with the Government agent assigned to help him. A meaningless blackmail story muddles the tale even further. This is an unremarkable book by a remarkable author.

This starts off with a body being found in a glacier, a body who you find out belongs to Charlie Treherne who went missing 30 years prior. His son Foster who never even got to meet his dad jumps right into trying to find out what happened that day his father went missing. When he went to view the body there were slight signs of a struggle, also was able to get his dad's journal and belongings. Immediately he starts finding each person in the photo to try and get some insight on his parents. It is pretty apparent something was being hidden from the others in the photo, and I don't like how it seemed to drag on and on. There was no big climax in the story. In the end he does find out who murdered his father and gets the closure he needed. Pretty good read! Also thanks to NetGalley for my arc for an honest review!

Also shared this to my Goodreads account!

Foster Treherne’s father disappeared 30 years ago while hiking. His mother died a year and a half later. Now, all of a sudden, his father’s body is found preserved within in a Swiss glacier. Foster is hoping he can finally put his memory to rest and have the knowledge of what actually happened, but that is not the case. It appears possible his father was in a struggle near the time of his death, and Foster is determined to find out why. As he tracks down his father’s former friends, he become increasingly entangled in a web of lies and mistrust. Will he ever discover what actually happened and who his father truly was?

This book didn’t really do it for me. The idea was good, but it was too predictable. I wasn’t really able to get into it until after the first quarter of the book, when the mystery really started to pick up. However, once I made it to about the 75% point, the answer was basically spoon-fed to you and there was no big twist or surprise.

Overall, the major prevailing themes are uncovering family truths and realizing life isn’t always how you picture it in your mind.

Warning: rape, abortion, and suicide are mentioned within this novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.