A man named Sydney O’Keefe has just been paroled after serving a ten year jolt in an upstate New York maximum security prison for a quadruple homicide he didn’t do, as the electrifying, propulsive and gritty new novel from prolific crime fiction author Vincent Zandri opens at a family resort in northern New York’s Adirondack Mountains near Lake Placid. 
The Girl Who Wasn’t There, (Oceanview Publishing, $26.95, 297 pages, ISBN 978-1-60809-396-0) begins at a lakeside beach, where eleven year old Chloe O’Keefe is building a sand castle with a new friend, as both pairs of doting parents look on.  But when Syd and his wife Penny go back their cabin for a few moments, Chloe goes missing without a trace.  After hours of frantic searching . . . the police are called in, something Syd’s reluctant to do.  He knows that as a newly released ex-convict, he’ll be the primary suspect in his daughter’s disappearance.
As the search for the missing girl casts a wider and wider net without results however, O’Keefe suspects that the gangster he was associated with—his old crime boss—Mickey Rabuffo is behind the abduction.
The police are pretty sure that O’Keefe himself, a man with a history of prison violence is the reason his daughter is missing, and most likely dead.  And although the circumstantial evidence all points to Syd, he knows that it’s his past which has come back to haunt him. The only way to keep his family from being killed, is for O’Keefe to take the law into his own hands and dispense some of his own rough justice, exposing a conspiracy of epic dimensions in the process.  With more twists, turns and switchbacks than a Catskill Mountain back road, The Girl Who Wasn’t There, will entertain readers from the first page to the last sentence!
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1.5 rated up 
I couldn’t for the life of me finish this book. It was written poorly and a lot of the scenes were just so unbelievable it had my eyes rolling.

A good easy read about a released convict, his family, his missing daughter and a conspiracy which takes him on a fast paced action ride. Twists and turns, good and bad decisions and an unexpected ending. Recommended.

Sidney 'Doc' O'Keefe just spent 10 years in prison. Now, suddenly paroled when he was supposed to serve 25 to life, he and wife, Penny, and 11-year-old daughter, Chloe, head to the Adirondacks for a vacation. Next thing, there is an abduction, fear, plot twist, murder! Fast-paced, violent, revealing plot. Thank you, Netgalley, for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review. 4 Stars

This was a great read, enjoyed it thoroughly, great storyline and loads of twists and turns , highly recommend this book x

A haunting past protruding into the present makes for an intense thrill ride that will grab and hold you from start to finish.

this book is fast paced and if you like your mob stories then this is the book for you. Unfortunately thats one thing I dont like reading about so I couldnt get into this one. Lots of actions and twists galore. Im probably in the minority but I just didnt like the book as much as I thought I would.

I reserve 1 star reviews for books I can't even make myself finish, so this one gets 2 stars; I finished it, but I wasn't happy about it. The writing was beyond bad. Two-thirds of the the way through the book, all the bad guys are in the room with Sidney/Doc (who is supposed to be knocked out cold, but of course, is only pretending) and relate the entire plan, from beginning to end, like Scooby Doo or something. The plan is retold later, just in case the reader didn't understand it the first time. Or, you know, from reading the story which shouldn't need to recap the nefarious plan.

Also, like Scoob, one of the baddies is heard to say, "Jeepers!" and also says "darn" while having no problem using the f-word - twice - in the same sentence. It was the strangest dialogue I've read in a long time. There is also a lot of medical information being thrown around needlessly (y'know, because Doc was in med school). It doesn't add to the story, it impedes whatever momentum has been gained, and like, who cares how many nerves are in the face; I think we can all agree that getting hit there hurts.

So, the plot, let's see...Sid/Doc is a twice married med school dropout who has just been released after serving 10 years of a 25-year sentence because he turned on the head of the operation and spilled all of his secrets. Now home with his family, he decides to take them on a vacation (maybe just a weekend?) to the Adirondacks and Lake Placid, NY. While the 10-year-old daughter is playing in the sand with a new friend, Sid and his wife, Penny, decide to grab a little 'alone time' and leave the kid playing by the lake. When they return, the girl is missing.

Do they go to the hotel detective or the local police or call his lawyer or parole officer (whom he never told he was leaving his home and therefore violating parole)? No. Why? Because they'll think the ex-con did something to the daughter. Ummm, ok. But of course, at some point, they do go to law enforcement - and Sid's not arrested or anything.

My thanks to Oceanview Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Girl Who Wasn't There
by Vincent Zandri
Oceanview Publishing
Mystery & Thrillers
Pub Date 30 Jun 2020   |   Archive Date Not set

Excellent book about an ex-convict who just wants to enjoy time with his family. The mystery starts when his daughter is missing.  Thanks to Oceanview Publishers and NetGalley for the ARC. 

New author for me! 

4 star

Sidney recently was released after 10 years in maximum security.  With his wife and daughter he goes for a reunion weekend in the resort of Lake Placid.  His daughter disappears from the beach and the local police  seem to think its down to Sidney.  Sidney guesses if must be connected to his old gangland boss, whom he had to give some information about as the price of getting out of prison.  He takes off into the mountains to avoid arrest and a trail of bloody events soon ensues.

Imagine if you will being convicted of a crime you didn't commit.
As if this wasn't bad enough now imagine that crime being for murder by a crime boss in which you were the driver.
Did I get your attention?
Ok, but what if we threw in one more monkey wrench say like that boss is now after you and your family and wants to kill all of you.
HOLY...
Oh, but wait there's more because on a much needed vacation in which you sought some downtime turns into a nightmare when your daughter is kidnapped while your off with your wife.
The rest is a story for the ages that takes us on an adventure through many winding trails and tails that lead to some shady characters that are in the profession of serving their community.
I wish I could go into more detail but this one is a work of pure magic and so it needs to be handled with care.
Thank you to Vincent, the pub, NetGalley, and Amazon Kindle for this ARC in exchange for this honest review

i really enjoyed reading this book, it was a great mystery and great characters. Nothing is more terrifying than a missing child. I look forward to reading more from the author.

This book was horrible! Lots of violence and totally implausible. The writing was also poor. It started off sounding really interested but quickly had me doing a double-take. Most of the story is completely unbelievable.

Sidney “Doc” O’Keefe has just been released from prison after serving ten years for a murder he did not commit. He was a driver for mob boss Mickey Rabuffo when a routine collection of monies owed went bad and a family of four was murdered.  Doc, his wife Penny and eleven-year-old daughter Chloe take a much needed vacation in Lake Placid, New York. When the couple leaves the daughter playing on the beach so they could have a little private time, she is kidnapped. What happens next is an action-packed story filled with so many twists and turns that you might get whiplash. Doc is portrayed as a smart man (former med student) whose ex-wife stole all his money causing him to work for Rabuffo to make quick money. But Doc makes some very bad decisions and assumptions in his quest to save his daughter that you might start to doubt his intelligence. If you simply go with the flow and not yell, “Why the heck did you do that?” then you’ll enjoy The Girl Who Wasn’t There.

There’s lots of violence in the book which happens at rapid speed. The continued surprises kept me in suspense making this a worthwhile read. 

Rated 3.75

I got an ARC from Net Galley

Who are you ZANDRI?

I ask because this was a great story and I have never heard of you

Once I got past the name Sidney :) here is a GREAT story, storyline, action scenes; I loved it.

Whoever you are. . . great job!

I  tried to get into this story but it just didn't hold my attention.   I'm sure it's a wonderful novel but just not for me.  I put it down when  they left  the hotel.

Loved this book!  I stayed up late to finish the book because I could not go to bed without knowing what happened.  Great storyline.

While fast paced, it's hard to entirely immerse yourself in the book.  There are so many implausible actions and events throughout.

Based on the other reviews, I'm solidly in the minority here: this is not the sort of book I expect from someone who has won awards in their field (as the author has won the Shamus award from the ITW). I did not find the book to be particularly well-written or the story one that couldn't be figured out abut 20% of the way in (based on markings in my Fire).

PROBABLE SPOILERS AHEAD

Sidney "Doc" O'Keefe has been released from prison, where he was incarcerated for ten years after being caught as the wheelman for two of his friends - friends who executed a Chinese family of four at the behest of their boss, a gangster named Rabuffo. Sidney assures the reader that he, himself, did not participate in the shooting of the family. Multiple times through the book, again and again. We get it, he's innocent, even though I didn't buy it the first time he told us and was even more convinced he was involved in nefarious doings the further the book rolled along. (I was right.)

Sidney and his wife Penny, along with their daughter Chloe, who is now 11, head to Lake Placid as a family rebonding thing. There they set themselves up next to another couple, the Stevens, and their daughter. Sidney and Penny decide to leave their daughter outside, paying with the daughter of total strangers, to go back to the hotel room and have some sexytime. Sidney finally admits he gave up Rabuffo to the Feds, and that's how he was able to get his release.

First of all: who in their right mind leaves their child with complete strangers? Second, how is little vacation being paid for? The opening page says they sold their house to pay his legal bills, after which his wife and daughter moved into a one bedroom apartment, then a studio apartment. We get the answer to the former (idiots) but not really the latter.

When they go back out to the beach, their daughter is gone. The Stevens are of no help, and their daughter saw nothing. Thus we begin Sidney and Penny's hunt for their daughter. They walk through the town, return to the hotel, where House Detective Giselle assures them they are scouring the hotel for her. Everything comes up empty.

They head to the police to file a report. The chief, Walton, makes no effort whatsoever to act like someone concerned for a missing child; instead he all but accuses Sidney of doing something terrible to her, being an ex-con and all. They head back to the hotel, and that night, hear their daughter calling for them. Sidney jumps up and sees what appears to be a man with his daughter. He heads out of the room toward them, and is promptly hit on the head. He shakes it off and goes after the man he saw, dragging him off a fence and pounding the crap out of him, trying to find out where his daughter is.

The next day, the guy he beat up is on tv telling a sob story about how he was just minding his business and Sidney just beat him up. The cops show up, and Sidney and Penny steal a jeep and head for the hills (literally). They find a vacant hunting cabin and hole up there, but naturally, the cops manage to find them in this one remote, abandoned cabin, bring a helicopter along, and start firing grenades at the cabin. 

The book had, to that point, only made me shake my head from time to time. After that point, I just sighed and made myself go through the rest of it. It's all a grand scheme, involving his lawyer, wife, the Chief of police, some weirdo named Gary (who they trust without a second thought, even though the book has already shown they shouldn't be trusting complete strangers), one of Sidney's friends from the massacre of the Chinese family, and the House Detective. 

What they want is all the money Rabuffo has stored in a vault in his house, since Rabuffo has been fortuitously arrested by the FBI and his house is empty. For some reason, Rabuffo had keyed Sidney to the vault, via optical scan (what, none of them saw Demolition Man?) and entry code. And for some reason, the Feds and police and simply run crime scene tape around the place and then just went on their way, leaving no one at all to watch the place.

There are a bunch of deaths, by bullet and by strangulation by belt, and lost things (and people) found. Sidney lives, just like that - snap! - exonerated, and is reunited with Chloe.

It's a short book at only 226 pages, and I really hope that the review ecopy I received is an uncorrected proof. There is apostrophe abuse, incorrect use of words that show why people should not rely on spellcheck alone (wrap for rap, for instance, right on page 3), tons of sentence fragments, and phrases that made no sense.

"I'm free, paroled for good if I keep my nose clean, as the rednecks like to say."

I a fairly sure that keeping one's nose clean is not just the purview of rednecks (or mothers wiping snot off a toddler's face, for that matter).

Then there's this, which I had to read a couple of times to understand what the heck he was saying  - not to a person, just telling the reader something.

"You know, the big, black Suburban I drove to the house lived in by a Chinese family who owed my boss, Ricky Rabuffo, too much money."

What? How about making that better, using active instead of passive voice, and using some of those commas on all the sentence fragments strewn everywhere?

 It started off well: ex-con goes to the beach with his wife and daughter. Their daughter goes missing, and they need to find her. It was all downhill from there, with a too-many-people-involved conspiracy, short sequences where we have to question if Sidney is actually seeing something/having something happen to him, and lots of the author telling us things instead of showing them to us.

Two stars out of five. 

Thanks to Oceanview Publishing and NetGalley for the review copy.

The Girl Who Wasn’t There
“Trust no one”

It’s hard for me to review this book without giving away spoilers so I’m going to try my best. First of all, WHAT THE WHAT?! This book was crazy good. This book had so many twists and turns and I got dizzy. This is also my first @vincentzandrinoirauthor book and I can’t wait to read more by him.

First off, thank you to @oceanviewpub for this ARC and opportunity to give this a read and a review. This book follows Sidney, the recently released convict after a ten year sentence, that he got early parole from and his wife Penny and daughter Chloe. He just wants a weekend away with his family and to reconnect with his daughter so he hasn’t seen in ten years. They take a mini vacation to a beautiful hotel on the beach. On their first day, Chloe is playing in the sand with another girl and Sidney and Penny decide it’s okay to sneak to the hotel and get frisky quick. WORST IDEA EVER. When they return, Chloe is gone and no one knows where she went. They search and high and low before involving the police. 

Then everything starts to get Crazy!!!!! I can’t get into much without spoiling the book but It seems as if NO ONE is telling the truth and every page is a twist! I recommend everyone grab a copy of this in October!!!