Ellie is a cop in a small town in Massachusetts who has a secret. No one knows she had been a victim of a serial killer and survived. When several people disappeared from the small town, she believes there is a serial killer at work but with no evidence no one believes her. She calls Reed who was the FBI agent who rescued her . Reed is in a downward spiral in his job and life but can't tell Ellie no. The two of them work together to figure out what is going on and how it relates to their shared past. The story was paced well with plenty of twists to get to the end.

Only Ellery belies the three missing person are related. Based on her personal history, her fellow officers should pay attention to her. I have found another favorite author.
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This is the first book in a new series. Ellie knows serial killers , she had been a victim in her teens. Now she is a police officer in a small town trying to live a quiet life.
However there seems to be a serial killer , even though she’s the only one who thinks so., she turn to her past to help her in the present.
A really good book that you won’t be able to put down!

Can you ever really become someone else?

On the evening of her fourteenth birthday, Abby Hathaway goes out for a bike ride when she falls victim to a serial killer. Unlike the first sixteen girls, however, Abby survives thanks to FBI profiler Reed Markham. But there's a difference between surviving and living. Years later, Abby has dyed her blonde hair brown and changed her name to Ellery. She's a cop who lives with her dog in an isolated farmhouse where all the closets are nailed shut. No one in Woodbury, Massachusetts has any idea she's the famous “little girl lost”--the final victim who helped put Francis Coben behind bars for good.

In fact, no one knows anything about Ellery at all. She has sealed off her past as tightly as her closets and that's exactly how she intends to keep it. Unfortunately, someone has other plans for Ellery. Not only does she receive eerie birthday cards every July, but she is also convinced that three local people who have gone missing during that same month have been murdered. And she's got a sneaking suspicion that their deaths may be related to the past she so desperately wants to put behind her.

The Vanishing Season is a fast-paced, gripping psychological thriller that is the first in Joanna Schaffhausen's Ellery Markham series. The second book, No Mercy, came out earlier this year and the third, All The Best Lies, is due out in February. Though the plot has plenty of twists that kept me guessing, the best thing about The Vanishing Season is Schaffhausen's ability to create complex, flawed characters whose relationships are equally flawed and complex. Ellery finds it almost impossible to form emotional connections with people but she's more than the typical innocent victim. She can be manipulative and she sometimes wonders if she just might be a little crazy. Reed, the courageous hero who wrote a bestselling book about her, is a wreck of a man who has been spending most of his time drinking and sleeping around. His marriage is in shambles and he's not about to win Father of the Year either. Not surprisingly, Ellery and Reed have doubts about each other--but there is still a strong connection between them because of what they went through together. I loved watching their relationship (which is not romantic--yet?) develop over the course of the novel.

I also liked the novel's small-town setting. Having spent much of my life in remote New England, I found Woodbury eerily familiar. My only critique of The Vanishing Season is that the ending felt a little too fast-paced. There were a couple of plot points that needed more explanation, I thought. Still, this is an impressive, well-written debut novel. I'm currently reading No Mercy (Ellery Markham #2) and look forward to seeing more of Ellery, Reed and even Woodbury.

Much thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Vanishing Season does not disappoint. The 2 main characters are both flawed but with all good intentions. The story keeps moving forward throughout and kept me guessing right up until the author spilled the beans near the end. I am very interested in reading the other books in this series and more from Joanna Schaffhausen.

Review of Uncorrected Digital Galley

Police Officer Ellery Hathaway is certain a serial killer is responsible for the disappearance of three people from Woodbury, Massachusetts over the last three years. One each year, around her birthday, with an unsigned birthday card showing up in her mailbox. “No connection,” insists her boss, Chief Sam Parker, and the other officers in the department are quick to agree.

With her birthday approaching once again, Ellery is determined to prevent a fourth disappearance and turns to the one person she can count on to believe her: FBI agent Reed Markham, the man who rescued her when she was kidnapped by a serial killer on her fourteenth birthday. Ellery was the seventeenth girl, the only one who didn’t die.

Will Ellery and Reed find the answers before someone else vanishes?

Strong characters, an intriguing premise, and an ever-building sense of foreboding all combine to keep the pages turning in this compelling, quick read tale that’s part mystery, part character study. There’s also a majorly-creepy undertone, several unexpected twists, and a perfectly lovable basset hound named Speed Bump. Although astute readers will guess the culprit long before the reveal, the telling of this tale is sure to keep readers absorbed.

Recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley
#TheVanishingSeason #NetGalley

Not perfect but pretty ok

FBI Agent Reed Markham rescued Abagail Hathaway from a serial killer 15 years ago and when a call comes from Police Officer Ellery Hathaway in Woodbury, MA, he knows he has to listen. But even Markham has trouble believing Ellery when she tells him she believes there is a serial killer in her town. How can one person attract two killers in a lifetime? Markham agrees to visit anyway, though, because he is still tied to the memories of that last-minute rescue so long ago. And besides, what else is there to do with his time? He's separated from his wife and daughter and on administrative leave from his job as a profiler because he completely screwed up an investigation and a boy died.

Joanna Schaffhausen published The Vanishing Season in 2017 to immediate acclaim, winning the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition. I think what sets this book apart from others with a similar theme is that Ellery Hathaway and Reed Markham feel like real people, not stereotypes. Yes, of course we know that they will survive physically, but it is not at all certain that they will survive emotionally.

My only question about the book is that Ms Hathaway's dog is a basset hound. It's not that bassets aren't useful dogs, but I don't foresee and grand heroics in future stories by a dog that is so low to the ground.

I enjoy this type of fiction as I am very interested in FBI profiling cases. This story kept my attention and had me wanting to get to the end as quickly as possible. I would definitely recommend this novel.

This is a fast paced thriller full of twists and turns. Ellery Hathaway is a great character. I was fully invested from page one. Looking forward to more. I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving this review

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book AFTER the sequel. And I STILL was found the tension, the darkness, the character development riveting.

This book introduces Ellery, a young cop with a sense of duty, a cute dog. Seed Bump and a horrific past.

Mfor the past three years, murders take place annually in her small town. Details of the murders bring back memories that aren't deeply buried for Ellery.

Can she survive solving this mystery either career and sanity intact?

The Vanishing Season is a fine-tuned suspense/police procedural that will earn your attention at the beginning and hold it hostage until the very end.

Ellery Hathaway is a police officer in the sleepy town of Woodbury, Massachusetts. She's not really named Ellery, but no one in Woodbury knows that. She renamed herself fourteen years ago in an attempt to restart her life as an unknown person after she was rescued, the sole survivor of seventeen girls, all victims of demented death row serial killer Francis Michael Coben.

She is 28 now, stronger, yet always on edge, and Coben, or someone who knows him, hasn't forgotten her. Each of the past three years, near hear birthday (when she was kidnapped), she receives a birthday card, and someone has gone missing. Her police chief won't listen to her theory that the people were actually kidnapped, as no evidence can be found to support that, and no connection between the missing people is apparent. Out of frustration, she contacts Reed Markham, the FBI agent who found her and brought her to safety. Together they start to re-examine the evidence. Sadly, she is right. The people do have a connection after all. Another serial killer is at work. One that knows where she lives and leaves an unforgettable "present" at her home. Can they find the person before they strike again? How many victims will there be this time?

Whew! Settle in for a very good read and prepare to be totally engrossed! This is a very impressive debut and I look forward to reading more about this character and from this author!

My thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for allowing me to read a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

As the basic description explains, Ellery Hathaway is a police detective, haunted by her past - the surviving victim of a serial killer. She has made a half-hearted attempt to conceal her identity - she moved from Illinois to Massachusetts and started using her middle name, rather than her first. She continues, tho, to use her surname, and since her case was notorious and well documented, it appears to be quite easy for anyone who seriously tried to identify her. A series of disappearances (with no bodies found) began 3 years earlier in her new town, and it appears that the killer is fully aware of Ellery's identity and that this is an important part of the new series of crimes. It's also clear that the original serial killer is still in prison, on death row. Since the police chief and other police officers in her town don't believe her that the three disappearances are linked (and note that she has not disclosed to them her back story), she calls the FBI agent who saved her all those years ago.

The resolution of the crime is not immediately obvious - I went down a couple of false trails while figuring out who the villain was. That said, I didn't feel that the resolution was a cheater - it all made sense when it was resolved.

Both our protagonists, Ellery and Reed, the FBI agent, are damaged by their past experiences. Much of the basic plot revolves around the fact that Ellery feels that she must conceal her past, thus handicapping the other police officers who are involved in trying to solve these disappearances. This is something I've noticed in a number of books lately - the protagonist has many issues of their own which complicate the solution of the mystery. I find this more interesting - instead of the omniscient, uncomplicated detective, we have protagonists whose own issues are intertwined with the cases they solve.

I'm interested to read the second book in this series, which is already available. Since Ellery's identity is public now, the plot won't be able to involve her concealed background, so I think that may add a different note to the plot - will her background still be an important factor or will we move on to her solving crimes as a "regular" police officer/detective?

I enjoyed this book - suspenseful, characters I liked, despite their flaws, plot that kept me engaged and interested. I'll definitely read the next in the series.

The plot was satisfyingly creepy. Abigail Ellery Hathaway was the only surviving victim of serial killer Francis Coben, who liked to cut off the hands of his victims and keep them as trophies (among other despicable acts). It is fourteen years later and Ellery (Ellie), as she calls herself now, is a police officer in small town Woodbury, Massachusetts, far from life-altering events in her hometown of Chicago years ago. For the past three years, in July, around her birthday, someone in town disappears. She is convinced that the disappearances are linked, but the police chief and other officers do not believe her, especially as there is no obvious connection between the missing except that they were all residents of Woodbury. However, what no one else knows is that every year she receives an unsigned birthday card postmarked from Woodbury. As she was abducted on her birthday, it is not a day she celebrates, and no one in town should know her birthday and no one in town knows her past (as far as she knows). Convinced that a fourth person will soon go missing, Ellery contacts Reed Markham, the FBI profiler who found her, in the hopes that he can lend his expertise and help her establish a connection so that the disappearances will be more thoroughly investigated. Reed agrees to at least look over the files, and ultimately gets involved in the case, but the situation quickly becomes complicated as Reed has his own professional and personal difficulties to deal with, he is uncertain about the stability of Ellery, and Ellery is hiding things from multiple people, most significantly her past, which results in confusion, chaos, and potentially unnecessary harm to others.

The overall story was good, with plenty of mystery, surprises, and creepiness. I also liked the character development, especially for Ellery and Reed. However, a quarter of the way through the book I knew the identity of the serial killer, though not his motivation or why he chose his victims. There were also clues that I thought Ellery, given her background, ought to have picked up on sooner; though, while this would have allowed Ellery and Reed to make necessary connections earlier, it would not necessarily have changed the fates of certain characters. The book could have been better, but still well worth the read, 3.5 stars.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Ellery Hathaway has a secret. Years ago she was the only victim to be saved form a brutal death at the hands of a depraved serial killer. Now a police officer in a small town, with a new name and the emotional scars hidden from those who know her. But now her nightmare is coming back to haunt her and she can think of only one person who will believe she isn’t losing her mind, the FBI agent who rescued her all those years ago. Has the killer returned or is it something far more sinister?

THE VANISHING SEASON by Joanna Schaffhausen is gritty with an ominous feel that hangs heavily over every page. Crisp writing, with an edge, this crime thriller follows a twisted path that will leave readers chilled.

A tortured heroine who can never trust again, who is pushed to the brink of sanity, a monster hiding in the shadows and an FBI agent who struggles with his own demons, a fabulous read that will leave you on the edge of your seat.

I received a complimentary copy from St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books! My honest review is voluntary.

Series: Ellery Hathaway - Book 1
Publisher: St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books (December 5, 2017)
Publication Date: December 5, 2017
Genre: Suspense | Crime thriller
Print Length: 293 pages
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

This book and it's sequel was offered to me along with the option to request the new book, book 3, which is releasing soon. I hadn't read the book or the author, and it had good reviews, so I thought I'd take a chance.

I kinda wish I hadn't. The story overall was ok. Nothing great, but it was ok. But overall, the book felt like it needed some serious editing. Usually with ARC's, I can over look that, because I"m getting an uncorrected proof, but this book was published a few years ago, so that's not the case here. There were glaring inconsistencies and tangents that were fully unnecessary to the story. Additionally, the author who says she's from and lives in Boston clearly does not know Massachusetts geography. For someone not familiar with the area, it would probably be ok, but I am familiar, and it was highly distracting. Also, at a few points, the main character (who had too many names - seriously, 4 different names for one character?) grew up in both Chicago and Boston, and when she was from Chicago she heard gossip on the streets of Boston and vice versa. These cities are not close to each other! I felt like I had no idea where the character was, what the setting was, or who was really telling the story. I complained so much while reading this book, I drove my family crazy. It was just so annoying.
I ended up having to skim read portions of the book, but I don't think it took away from the overall story. IT was the only way I could finish the book.
I have book 2 as well, and wish I didn't. But I'll read it and see if it's any better. I hope so. And I'm hoping now that I don't 'win' book 3, because - wow. It's so disappointing when small errors take over the whole experience.

This is the first series I’ve read from the author and its amazing! Keeps you at the edge of your seat.

An excellent thriller that kept me up way too late. I just had to know the ending. Ellery has the headline story that was her past. Now she is a small town police officer with the gut feeling that there is evil in her town. There are some twists and turns as we learn more about her life, her town, and the FBI guy that saved her in the past. I sure didn't see the end coming. Excellent story which I highly recommend.

The Vanishing Season by Joanna Schuffhausen is a fantastic story.. Ellery Hathaway is a tough character and I am looking forward to reading more about her in future books. This book kept me guessing and on edge right til the end. The premise was intriguing and original which was really refreshing.

Ellie, at age 14, was taken by infamous serial killer Francis Michael Coben on her birthday. She is the only survivor of his killing spree, but she keeps this to herself. Years later she is a police officer in Woodbury MA where nothing much really happens. But for the past 3 years people have been disappearing around her birthday and her superior officers are not taking her seriously. In desperation she reaches out to her rescuers all those years ago - FBI agent Reed Markham. Reed's like is a mess at the moment - his marriage is falling apart and his colleagues are losing faith in him. Together they try to find these people and who took them and why. Is it all connected to Ellie and why?

Thanks to St Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and Netgalley for granting my wish for this book. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased.

One of the better books I have read from an author I haven’t previously had the pleasure of reading.
Ellery Hathaway is a police officer in a sleepy Massachusetts town where she has spent the previous three years trying to convince the department that the disappearance of three people is not a coincidence but linked even though the victims are very dissimilar.
Ellery is a survivor of a serial killer who is now on death row but now she’s receiving letters from an unknown person and it is beginning to look like the serial killer might have an accomplice or a copycat. Reed Markham from the FBI who rescued her years earlier again comes to her help.
The story is compelling and kept me reading for hours even though I really needed to take a break. The characters are well drawn out and for the most part likable except for those who don’t need to be. I had an inkling who the killer was in the end but no idea as to the reasons behind the killings.
I definitely recommend this book and am very happy that NetGalley was kind enough to not only let me read this book in exchange for my honest review but also let me read the next two in the series. I will report back when I finish those.

Tense chilling psychological thriller so well written so involving.First in series a book I could not put down characters that come alive will be reading the series.Follwing this author. #netgalley#st.martinsbooks.