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The Vanishing

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The Vanishing

By: Wendy Webb
Narrated by: Xe Sands
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About this listen

Recently widowed and rendered penniless by her Ponzi-scheming husband, Julia Bishop is eager to start anew. So when a stranger appears on her doorstep with a job offer, she finds herself accepting the mysterious yet unique position: caretaker to his mother, Amaris Sinclair, the famous and rather eccentric horror novelist whom Julia has always admired...and who the world believes is dead.

When she arrives at the Sinclairs' enormous estate on Lake Superior, Julia begins to suspect that there may be sinister undercurrents to her "too-good-to-be-true" position. As Julia delves into the reasons of why Amaris chose to abandon her successful writing career and withdraw from the public eye, her search leads to unsettling connections to her own family tree, making her wonder why she really was invited to Havenwood in the first place, and what monstrous secrets are still held prisoner within its walls.

©2014 Wendy Webb (P)2014 Tantor Ghosts Horror

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Critic reviews

"A brisk thriller tinged with gothic elements. . . . Careening through séances and ghostly encounters leaves the reader breathless." ( Kirkus)
All stars
Most relevant
I have to agree with other reviews, she can’t pronounce library, does an awful Scottish, and not great English accent, and if you’ve listened to one Wendy Webb book you’ll find this quite same-y.
The woman is famished, drinks water quite a bit, usually vomits at some point, will be romance. Another review said different bits that are the same.
The main character was a little annoying in this one, I won’t say why as I don’t like to give plot away.
Not bad for free.

The vanishing

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I like Wendy Webb and her books but the narrator makes it even more special. I find XE Sands has such a relaxing voice. This is my favourite so far.

Very Good

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First thing as Scottish person this was difficult to listen to, no need at all for Drew to be Scottish. The accent was terrible and seemed to go between Irish and Russian rather than Scottish. The story was ok, wouldn’t say this was a horror story rather mild ghost story and that’s a push. The story does drag a lot, this is mainly down to the description of every little thing from drinking a glass of water to brushing her hair. I would say if you want to listen skip to last few chapters as you are not missing anything.

Ok story but does drag on.

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The main character, Julia, was very annoying in this story. I could only get up to Chp31 until I had enough. For a woman who supposedly doesn't believe in anything supernatural and who has had many supernatural experiences yet refuses to believe, She just seems incredibly dumb to me and god only knows whatbher logic is. also Drew, the scottish accent the narrator tried to voice, was terrible. This was by no means a scottish accent I have hears and being from UK, I have heard many a scottish accent. It would have been nice to have a scottish narrator for Drews character for authenticity. Also male and female narrators for the required parts respectively.

infuriatingly annoying

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Otherwise it was fine. Wendy Webb isn't a bad writer but she has a tendency to introduce plotlines she never quite resolves. This is not done in a "let the reader decide themselves way" but in a lazy, she forgot how many plots she introduced kind of way.

The actors Scottish accent was deplorable

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