Released on Sept 13th.

This thriller opens with a dramatic event; an abduction of a young child named Jimmy from a busy US airport.  We learn that the child’s mother was Scarlett, a reality TV star who had tragically died of cancer.  Jimmy had been left in the care of his guardian, Stephanie Harker who was also a ghost-writer for all of Scarlett’s books.  Stephanie is left traumatised and bewildered as to who would commit such a crime.

The novel uses flashbacks to show potential suspects in both Scarlett and Stephanie’s lives.   Scarlett had a troubled childhood and Stephanie has a disturbed stalker in her ex-boyfriend.

I really enjoyed this new thriller which I read in two sittings, it’s filled with twists and turns along the way.  Stephanie in particular was a strong and interesting character but I also thought this was an interesting portrayal of ‘celebrity’ and the media.  However, I was left slightly disappointed by the end – it was unexpected but not really the end I had hoped for.   

Intriguing Sarah - always love Val McDermid's writing, and I'll look out for this one. Thanks for the review!

Difficult one to review - that ending really blew it out of the water. Here's what I wrote for netgalley:

I usually start my five star reviews of Val McDermid’s books with “I’m not really a thriller reader, but...”.  Her Wire in the Blood series absolutely enthrals me, as do some of her stand-alones, and they’re invariably five star reads.  I loved 95% of this book too, but it really isn’t primarily a thriller – I carried it everywhere, taking every opportunity to read, fascinated by the story of the reality TV star (plainly based on Jade Goody) befriended by her ghost writer, and the linked thread around child abduction.  There are some lovely touches in there, and it makes you wonder how close to the truth it is.  I lost myself in the world of Scarlet and Stephanie, and I found the insights into this world we all think we know so much about quite fascinating.  But however much I enjoyed the book – and I really did, despite the fact that it wasn’t at all what I’d expected – I really didn’t like the ending at all. It really made me feel a little cheated – I even wondered if I’d missed some element in the story, but I really don’t think I did.  Regardless, my thanks to netgalley for the opportunity to read this one on my Kindle ahead of publication.

I reviewed this on jaffareadstoo 

I thought overall it was a reasonable thriller but the ending just didn't work for me...

Pleased to see I wasn't the only one who had difficulties with the ending Josie - always difficult when it's a netgalley copy, which I feel privileged to receive...

annie130:

Pleased to see I wasn't the only one who had difficulties with the ending Josie - always difficult when it's a netgalley copy, which I feel privileged to receive...

I know what you mean - I meant to watch Alan Titchmarsh today as  Val McDermid was interviewed, and I was curious to see how she described the book ...but then I forgot to tune in !!

I've just finished reading this, my first Val McDermid book and heres my review:

The Vanishing Point by Val McDermid
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was my first book by Val McDermid and it probably won't be my last. I was looking for something tense and thrilling and this certainly fit the bill, loads of twists and turns.

Beginning with the abduction of a child in an airport in America, we are then introduced to the childs guardian Stephanie, a ghost writer who makes a living interviewing and then writing biographies of celebrities.

Recently she had been involved with writing the life story of a reality tv star, and this is the bit I found rather hard to stomach - The author has clearly based her second lead character very closely on the late celebrity Jade Goody and for me that made it a lazy way of writing a story - the parallels kept on coming and I just kept feeling as though I'd read the book before as there were too many similarities to her life.

However the story was so well written I was prepared to overlook this and am glad I did as the story develops in ways reality never could and builds to a truly shocking and quite unexpected climax that left me a bit stunned.

As the search for the missing child continues we are given hints of who may be behind it, fed a few rather tasty red herrings and led gently up the garden path without realizing where we are heading - and even on those occasions where we second guess whats coming its never quite how we anticipated.

In my opinion the authors writing style seemed a touch dated, for such a contemporary theme I felt it was written by someone who had researched everything really well but wasn't completely in touch with today's celebrity culture. However her great storytelling ability more than made up for this and her ability to weave a web of events whilst keeping me completely absorbed despite those few minor misgivings makes me want to go out and discover what else she has to offer.