The Vanishing Year by Kate Moretti – Review

Hi guys! How are you doing today? ~~I’m fine, in case you asked~~. Today’s review is of The Vanishing Year by Kate Moretti. I gave this four stars because the end surprised me even though I was pretty sure I knew who villain was.

Book: The Vanishing Year

Author: Kate Moretti

Rating: ★★★★☆

Summary: Zoe Whittaker is living a charmed life. She is the beautiful young wife to handsome, charming Wall Street tycoon Henry Whittaker. She is a member of Manhattan’s social elite. She is on the board of one of the city’s most prestigious philanthropic organizations. She has a perfect Tribeca penthouse in the city and a gorgeous lake house in the country. The finest wine, the most up-to-date fashion, and the most luxurious vacations are all at her fingertips.

What no one knows is that five years ago, Zoe’s life was in danger. Back then, Zoe wasn’t Zoe at all. Now her secrets are coming back to haunt her.

As the past and present collide, Zoe must decide who she can trust before she—whoever she is—vanishes completely.

Quote: “There is endless psychological research on evil people. But in my experience the average sociopath has no idea they are wrong. They’re born this way, not made.”

The Good:

*Secrets. This is kind of like a typical story of a wife keeping secrets about her past from her husband and vice versa, and then it all explodes in everybody’s face. The MC, Zoe Whittaker has just hosted a successful dinner for a charity when she gets a blast from the past. Her roommate happened to be at the dinner and she recognizes Zoe’s past self, formerly named Hilary Lawlor. Everything goes from bad to worse from then on.

*Characters. Zoe’s former best friend, Lydia, is somebody I kind of want for a friend too. She’s understanding, sarcastic (I imagine her to be), and this amazing force that you can’t tame. She’s so wild and it’s pretty sad that she doesn’t get much attention in this book. Zoe herself is okay. I understood the mess in her life, and I sympathized with her a lot. Cash was meh at best. I didn’t really like him, but I didn’t hate him either. Henry is subtly overprotective. Zoe doesn’t do anything that she actually wants to do because she always worries, what will Henry think?

*The end. Even though at around the 70 to 80% mark I was pretty sure I knew who the bad guy was, I didn’t know how, or why. So I felt really sick when I found out. The ending was full of so much tension, I felt so much for Zoe, and good job Ms. Moretti for making it good even though I thought it would be meh at best.

Quote: “The greatest risk is not taking one.”

The Bad:

*Dates. The days didn’t jump around much, but when they did, I was left confused because, let’s be honest here: how many of you read the date that is posted under the chapter heading? Especially when it’s just listing the days like, Monday 26, Monday 27, Monday 28, etc…? I don’t, so when the story jumps back a few years, I have to go back to find out what exactly is going on.