My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What an extraordinary read this turned out to be. To write a search and rescue thriller with a hero and a heroine, both to die for and then to have not an ounce of romance anywhere sprinkled in the novel, WOW, it is surely an admirable feat, and to top it off, Ollie the dog 🐕 🐕 🐕 and there goes my heart melting at double the rate.
Claire Kell’s Vanishing Edge scores in bringing the precipitous terrain of the Sequoia National Park alive for the reader. Hiking along with Felicity, the national park felt like a feast to the eyes. And that is exactly what makes this thriller a thumping winner coz until about the last 20%, the readers are themselves unaware if at all a crime has been committed or is it just the hunch of the investigators? All the puzzle pieces that build the case never seem to merge together and questions upon questions seem to pile up without an answer in sight. The ending when it gets revealed was so far out of the left-field, that I was totally stumped.
Felicity Harland is in a tough job, she has moved into ISB after a near-fatal accident that has left her with a bionic spine, having more screws and nuts in her spinal cord than actual bones. But her stubborn determination to never back down and give up becomes evident as the case progresses and she has to travel the length and breadth of the park with Ollie and Hux, the park ranger.
And now what to say about Ferdinand Huxley, all of us need someone like Hux in our corner, someone who is generally exuberant and cheerful; someone who always offers encouragement without any rancor and of course being handsome as sin is like the cherry on top. His career as a NAVY SEAL helps him to be the perfect partner to Felicity and the partnership, WHOA, what a delight. The quips and the dry sarcastic jabs they flung on each other were such an essential part of the plot as the friendship just deepens without professionalism being compromised. I hope there is some future for both these characters down the line!
Now, is it wrong to beg the author to continue the series so that we can follow the adventures of Hux and Felicity into whichever wilderness they travel to?
An absolutely thrilling adventure ride!
Many thanks to Net Galley, Crooked Lane Books, and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.
For fans of Christine Carbo and Scott Graham, an ex-FBI agent is on a desperate hunt for a party of vanished campers while a killer is on the loose.
The rugged landscape of Sequoia National Park is a challenge on the best of days—but when a park ranger discovers an abandoned exclusive campsite with an empty tent and high-end technical gear scattered on the shores of an alpine lake, the wilderness takes on a sinister new hue.
Thirty-two-year-old Felicity Harland—a former FBI agent who left the service in the wake of a personal tragedy and has taken her skills off the grid—is brought in as chief investigator. As a federal agent with the Investigative Services Bureau, she tackles crimes that occur on National Parks lands: unexplained falls, domestic disputes, and now a possible murder case.
The private company that set up the exclusive camp won’t reveal their client list, leaving Felicity with zero clues. As she struggles to find a lead, she’s also haunted by a painful past that dogs her at every step. But when she meets Ferdinand Huxley, a Navy SEAL turned park ranger, she begins to see the value in not just working with a partner, but trusting one, too.
The investigation takes Felicity and Hux deep into a wilderness that tests their physical limits to the extreme—and to the mean streets of Los Angeles, where they begin to learn the grisly truth behind the campers’ disappearance.
Bad things happen in the wilderness—and sometimes they’re not accidents.
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A search and rescue thriller sounds quite emotionally heavy haha! Great review!
Nope Gerogia, this was not a heavy book at all. It was totally a “hiking book”😆😆😆