Lisa Harris: Vanishing Point

By Kelly Bridgewater

During Garrett Addison's first week on the job as a criminal investigator for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, his team is called out to a murder scene of a young girl. She's the third victim in a string of disappearances with one thing in common--a Polaroid photo of each victim left behind at the crime scene.

The FBI is pulled into the case to help, and Garrett finds himself working with Special Agent Jordan Lambert, the woman he once loved. When yet another girl dies--number six--Garrett blames himself and believes he doesn't have what it takes to be an agent. What he'll discover is that, while he may be done with the killer, the killer is not done with him--or Jordan.

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My Thoughts:

Vanishing Point by Lisa Harris is the exciting conclusion to the Nikki Boyd files. It is the fourth book in the series. With my suspense, I like a lot of chases and dead bodies piling up. Luckily, Harris included a story with a serial killer, which happens to be one of my favorite style of suspense and thriller stories. Serial Killers make the story more interesting and more pressing for the cops because they have to hunt faster or there will be more victims. With Vanishing Point, Harris definitely delivered a page turner.

The writing is clear and concise. I had no problem visualizing the setting and placing myself inside the characters and watching them interact with the numerous crime scenes. Harris also included a lot of background information from the police officer's perspective to show the work they have to do to finish the hunt.

The plot was different than I was expecting. The first three books in the series are told from Nikki Boyd's perspective, hence the name The Nikki Boyd Files, but this book takes place from Garrett Addison and Jordan Lambert's point of view, which I totally didn't expect. Not that it ruin the story. It was still a high tension novel from start to finish, but Nikki is a secondary character, not the first character, so it kind of threw me off. I expected the concluding chapter to be in Nikki's voice. I wanted her story as she finally solved what happened to her sister. I felt cheated since Nikki didn't get to share her point of view in the most important part of the story for her. Also, the bad person feels a lot like the bad person in the final episode of BBC Sherlock. They had the same personalities and the same issues. The capture of this person felt a little too easy for me with all the work Harris built into the character's ability to allude the police for over ten years, then they are caught with barely any struggle. Felt cheated.

There is romance, but it is between Garrett and Jordan. This story takes place in 2004, 2005, 2006, and present day. Garrett and Jordan have a past before this story even takes place. Then the sparks fly and disappear. Then fly and come to a conclusion with the story.

Overall, Vanishing Point by Lisa Harris is an awesome chase to find the serial killer that I really enjoy. The characters were not who I was expecting, so I was thrown for  a loop. The serial killer's capture didn't really feel right to me. I thought it would have been more climactic. In general, I did enjoy the hunt for the serial killer, and it was a novel that I finished in less than a day, but I'm just picker, I believe, than most when it comes to my suspense elements.

I received a complimentary copy of Vanishing Point by Lisa Harris from Revell Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars