Vanished

Mary McGarry Morris

VANISHED is a book that will keep your attention from beginning to end, but what an incredibly sad story it is, with an ending that is so unjust that it's going to be very hard for most readers to swallow. The story is told from the perspective of slow witted Aubrey Wallace, who is manipulated into leaving his wife and two kids by Dotty, a strange girl who comes walking down the road one day and takes off with his truck. Thus begins a strange journey, beginning with Dotty's kidnapping of a toddler named Canny, which eventually leads the three of them to a showdown in the country with another pathetic group of characters and a ransom plot that doesn't go as expected. Be warned that none of the characters in this book are very likable and the story is gritty. The twist at the end took me totally by surprise and will definitely stun most readers.