THE VANISHING WIFE by Nichole Severn

 4* Requires a fair bit of suspension of disbelief, and the end has a bit of a cliff hanger, but hey, not everyone in this tale is lily white, so...

This is the 2nd book in the Leigh Brody FBI series but works fine as a standalone, as there's enough info about events to clue readers in. It's well written, pacing is good, even though it's a tad unbelievable that someone who's just had major abdominal surgery can release themselves from care after 3 days (and only be meant to be recuperating for 3 weeks?? Thank goodness for the UK's NHS and sick pay rules) and have flown across the country to help out on a case. Hmm. But, the take works and is engrossing, though there are lies, untruths, truths withheld and the tale ends with a 'Uh oh, what happens now?/Fgs, now I have to wait until the next gets written to find out more?' moment. It is a good read and I definitely want to read books 1 and 3, especially as book 1 has hints of the Mercy Thompson series that I devour.

But, there's filler, too, and there's lots going on that could've been edited out, and there's LEOs keeping secrets and peacock posturing until they get a working relationship going. Rules are bent, evidence risks being deemed unusable, one LEO loses her focus on the main case because she's personally vested in another that's connected, and hasn't declared this, and there's some abrasiveness. Kind of realistic in parts, as they're human, but also not by the book. I think had Leigh's past with a serial killer and her 'dead'-but-not-really brother not been what it was, this tale could have exceeded my ability to suspend disbelief. It made her a shades-of-grey character, so the ending sets up book 3 nicely.

I got Elyse's desire for revenge and to protect her daughter and others, but the details bogged the tale down at times. Wesley's existence and actions could have been skipped entirely and wouldn't have affected the tale. The way in which he offed himself was convenient, glossed over - it should have resulted in an investigation - and no one seemed to mourn him, not even his daughter, but hey, apparently this was family vacation time and time to reconnect, so that didn't feel real. The details about cleaning products and cleaning were boring and unnecessary. What the tale needed more of was Ava's involvement in the before and the now, because she was the reason her mother did what she did. What was missing, too, was the timeframe for Elyse's plotting, as it was unclear if it was months, weeks or days - could it have been mere days, if this was their annual vacay?? Details matter and this was detail-lite in this aspect of the tale. Still, it was a decent read and I'm definitely up for the next.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Storm Publishing for my reading pleasure.