Dark, Compelling, Menacing…
A dark and compelling suspense. Hanna has already decided that she’s better placed without the ties of her family. After all, they hold her responsible for an incident that seemingly ruined their lives over fourteen years ago. But, when she’s holed up perusing a true crime website she’s stunned to see her family home listed as a brutal murder scene along with details of the murder victims. The date of the crime is that day. Further investigations on her part come up with nothing and the police simply find an abandoned house. That, however, is far from the end of the matter. With an underlying sense of menace throughout and a dark sense of foreboding, this is a claustrophobic and intriguing read.

Pulled me in from the opening chapter…. At thirty, Hanna has finally decided she's better off without her family. They hold her responsible for the incident that ruined their lives fourteen years ago and they've barely spoken since.

But then, whilst browsing a true crime website, she sees her family home listed as the site of a brutal murder. Number of victims: three. Date of crime: today. When the police investigate, they find no bodies, but the house is abandoned. Hanna's family have disappeared.

A dark physiological thriller, about family secrets and the past that you cannot run from.

In this book we meet Hanna, who has decided that she is finally done with her family and the way they treat her. They have always held her responsible for a horrible accident that ruined everyone's life's and they haven't spoken properly of been close since and Hanna has finally had enough.

Upon browsing a true crime website. Hanna discovers her family home and it is listed as the site of a brutal murder where 3 people were killed and the date listed is today. However when the police went to investigate they find no bodies and Hanna's family have simply disappeared.

Hanna has to confront her.last and what happened all those years ago to uncover what exactly has happened to her family.

A well written, physiological thriller.

Wow, this thriller was so not what I was expecting! I loved the fact that this book was so twisty and dark, with a fairly flawed yet relatable protagonist.

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

It took a few chapters to get into as the beginning felt quite random and not what I was expecting but then all of a sudden I was absolutely hooked and read the rest in one sitting. Filled with twists and turns galore the story of Hanna and Saha is one that was truly gripping! I always love a book set in Wales too! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this one, it releases in the UK on 5th May so keep an eye out if you like a twisty thriller!

This book was unfortunately rather predictable. I think there have been way too many similar stories so it really needed to be different to stand out. It was fast paced and quite an easy read overall but nothing memorable.

This just sucked me in from the start! I loved the overall story outline and was so excited to work my way through it and find out what was going on. It really is such a complex and intelligent thriller. It's a bit predictable if you've read a lot of these types of books before but that doesn't take away from how good a story it is by any means! And in saying that, there were still a few things that a die hard domestic noir/ thriller obsessed type like me didn't guess so that in itsself is a very high bar for any book. Once you start, you won't be able to out it down. It's definitely one of those which get under your skin and leave you unable to stop until you have all the answers and in this book, there are a lot of answers to work out!!

This is a complex novel which walks a tightrope of tension between domestic thriller, and psychological suspense mystery, that hits every single mark that you would expect in each genre.

You have two main protagonists-Hanna and her sister Sasha-whose first person narratives give you an intimate connection to their experiences. Hanna has re-invented herself, after a fashion, from leaving her home at 16, having a strained relationship with her father , step- other and step-sister turning into Christmas cards unopened, voicemails not returned until she has summoned up the strength to read them. In Sasha's passages, which build up a back story until the point at which both hers, and Hanna's dovetail, shows how life was like for Hanna in a restrictive regime, has worsened for her.

Hanna was held as the example of the girl who had everything and threw it all away, they use her vanishing and lack of care as a cautionary tale of the damage that drinks and drugs can do to a young girl. They completely do not realise that the resentment that they are building with their rules is headed in their direction and Hanna becomes a bit of an icon to Sasha.

Sasha grows up, as Hanna did, with a failed academic father , Daniel, and step-mother to Hanna, mother of her own, Jen. She has no phone, no social media, no friends and lives on a caravan park which is the magnet for the kids in her class to go and do what teens have done since time immemorial. Sasha hears it all from her bedroom and her isolation just makes her a sitting duck for the girls in her class to pick on her.  The only hope she clings to is that she will one day be like Hanna and leave of her own free will, and never look back.

Hanna's complex back story is slowly revealed after we have seen her introduced as a woman who has strength in leaving an abusive boyfriend, putting her life back together and having her own home. She has moved closer to uni friends, Seb and Dee, and the Welsh setting is so relatable, the small town nature of gossip spreading, until the point where everyone thinks they know what happened, but no-one ever did. Like the time Nirvana came to play the local Rec-true story-and if it held everyone who claimed to have seen them, then the ironically named Great Hall would have had a capacity almost that of the Millennium Stadium.

However, I digress, the seaside caravan park setting is haunting and haunted. Sasha is living with the ghost of her older sister's transgressions which have become local lore, and now they are moving just after Christmas.

So when a website which specialises in 'Dark Tourism', urban exploration of murder sites with a literary twist, turns up a breaking story about the death of Hanna's entire family, complete with pictures , for a date which is actually today, Hanna's alarm bells begin to ring.

Unfortunately, the website that this turns up on, is the site of a friend of Seb and Dee's, someone they went to uni with and who they have just set Hanna up on a date with...

Adam seems perfectly lovely, but just how much does anyone know about him?

Did he only go out with Hanna to expose her tragic back story on his website?

Could anyone truly be that manipulative?

Taking a frank and honest look at the human cost of the salacious true crime websites, this novel pulls no punches when it asks us to look at our motivations for checking out the sites of truly horrendous crimes that are still explored for various reasons by tourists. In effect, we are tourists to the lives-and deaths-of others, so what is the difference between visiting a grave in a public place or walking through a long abandoned house?

Are the dark tourists just looking for the truth or a quick thrill?

What happens when a creator of such a site comes face to face with the very human subjects of his articles, and, furthermore, is intrinsically involved when they both try and find Hanna's family to find they have disappeared without a trace?

A dark and nuanced story with some really great twists and turns-I thought I had figured out whodunnit, truly I had not-this further establishes Vanessa as a writer to watch!

my 1st book buy this author and very much enjoyed keeps you wanting to read till the end . Hanna leave her home town at the age of 16 she not has any contact with her dad step mum and sister ,Hanna has no luck with boyfriends her last one Liam was a user .her best friend Dee fixes her up with one of her boyfriends best friend Adam , Hanna meets Adam in a pub and they get on quite well he shows her is website The Dark Tourist ,com .about houses that family s have just disappeared .and he takes her to one on there 1st date .Hanna freaks out. when Hanna tells Dee about it she goes on to the website and gets a shock ,her family s home and holiday park is on there .Hanna s sister Sasha does not have a life no friends no net no phone the dad is very strict . why did Hanna run away from home what is there family secrets and who wants revenge ,I so recommend this book ,

I read a lot of this type of book, so have to admit,I predicted pretty much most of what was happening.
It was still a fast paced,entertaining read despite that.
There's some suspect behaviour from most of the characters,but that keeps you on your toes right to the end.
Enjoyable.

This was such a good read, it was gripping from start to finish and I couldnt put it down. It was intense, fast paced and unpredictable, steeped with suspese and mystery. I loved it.

Read through netgalley.
I read this book in one sitting! It’s a little far fetched at times but a good story and kept me entertained and wanting to keep reading until the end. It’s sort of two stories which intertwine but it’s well written and the characters believable. I didn’t guess the main characters secret either which is always a bonus!

Would definitely recommend!

#TheNightTheyVanished #NetGalley
A fun read.
Hanna has finally decided she's better off without her family. They hold her responsible for the incident that ruined their lives fourteen years ago and they've barely spoken since. But then, whilst browsing a true crime website, she sees her family home listed as the site of a brutal murder. Number of victims: three. Date of crime: today. When the police investigate, they find no bodies, but the house is abandoned. Hanna's family have disappeared. To find them, Hanna will have to confront what happened all those years ago.
I loved The Woods and was eagerly waiting for this book. I must say that I'm not disappointed. It's a fun read.
Thanks to NetGalley and Sphere for giving me an advance copy.