The Vanishing Point

A child's abduction is not what it appears to be in this 'highly recommended' thriller from the internationally bestselling author of Broken Ground (The Guardian)

Stephanie Harker is travelling through security at O'Hare airport with five-year-old Jimmy. But in a moment, everything changes. In disbelief, Stephanie watches as a uniformed agent leads her boy away - and she's stuck the other side of the gates, hysterical with worry.

The authorities, unaware of Jimmy's existence, just see a woman behaving erratically; Stephanie is wrestled to the ground and blasted with a taser gun. By the time she can tell them what has happened, Jimmy is long gone.

But as Stephanie tells her story to the FBI, it becomes clear that everything is not as it seems. There are many potential suspects for this abduction. With time rapidly running out, how can Stephanie get him back?

A breathtakingly rich and gripping psychological thriller, The Vanishing Point is Val McDermid's most accomplished standalone novel to date, a work of haunting brilliance that demonstrates why she is hailed as 'the queen of crime' (The Independent).


'Masterfully handled, and McDermid's ability to wrong-foot the reader remains second to none: highly recommended' -The Guardian

'[McDermid's] work is taut, psychologically complex and so gripping that it puts your life on hold' -The Times