The Vanished Child: Amazon.ca: Sarah Smith: Books

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Smith's first novel is a stunning tale of amnesia, child abuse and murder in turn-of-the-century New England.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A chance encounter with a stranger on a train platform tears Alexander von Reisden from his ascetic devotion to his chemistry lab, and plunges him into a 19-year-old mystery involving the murder of a wealthy Bostonian and the disappearance of his grandson. Is von Reisden, as the stranger first thought, the missing heir to the Knight fortune or is he the European aristocrat he always believed himself to be? Helping the Knights face the demons of their past, von Reisden is forced to confront his own. Employing subtle Jamesian touches and his milieu of turn-of-the-century Boston, Smith deftly explores both the actual and the psychological mysteries surrounding the case. Highly recommended.
- Cynthia Johnson Whealler, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, Mass.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

16 Reviews

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.2 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars I could read anything by this author; this is a favorite!, Jun 18 2003

By

K. Corn "reviewer" (midwest, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Vanished Child (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the book that compelled me to buy every single one of the other books I could find by the author - her writing is simply that good and the characters she creates are vivid and compelling.
In The Vanished Child, the reader is immediately submerged into a decades old mystery, centering on Alexander Von Reisden, a man with alarming gaps in his memory and virtually no recollection of his childhood.
One day, a chance meeting with a stranger raises even more questions about himself and his past. Could he possibly be Richard Knight, a missing heir who was kidnapped as a child and who stands to inherit a fortune from the surviving members of his family? Or is he simply someone who coincidentally resembles the Knight family, leading some of them to believe (or hope) that he could be the missing Richard?
Author Sarah Smith weaves her tale with haunting intensity and detail, keeping me reading till nearly morning. I paid the price the next day but it was worth it.

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4.0 out of 5 stars I could read anything by this author; this is a favorite!, Jun 18 2003

By

K. Corn "reviewer" (midwest, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Vanished Child (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the book that compelled me to buy every single one of the other books I could find by the author - her writing is simply that good and the characters she creates are vivid and compelling.
In The Vanished Child, the reader is immediately submerged into a decades old mystery, centering on Alexander Von Reisden, a man with alarming gaps in his memory and virtually no recollection of his childhood.
One day, a chance meeting with a stranger raises even more questions about himself and his past. Could he possibly be Richard Knight, a missing heir who was kidnapped as a child and who stands to inherit a fortune from the surviving members of his family? Or is he simply someone who coincidentally resembles the Knight family, leading some of them to believe (or hope) that he could be the missing Richard?
Author Sarah Smith weaves her tale with haunting intensity and detail, keeping me reading till nearly morning. I paid the price the next day but it was worth it.

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4.0 out of 5 stars A Thrilling Thriller, Dec 11 2002

By

B. Morse (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Vanished Child (Mass Market Paperback)

Writing a 'period thriller' in this day and age must be a daunting task. No real car chases; no internet spying; no satellite explosions; no nuclear threats;...But Sarah Smith manages to create a thrilling piece of fiction out of the woods of New Hampshire and Boston in 1906 in bringing readers the story of the Vanished Child.

Alexander Von Reisden never expected to be recognized as the 'vanished' Richard Knight eighteen years after the boy disappears. But when Richard's former doctor Charlie Adair approaches him on a European train platform, he is drawn into the mystery that Richard left behind...a murdered grandfather, an unclaimed inheritance...a missing secretary...and no answers in sight.

Reisden travels to Boston to 'help' the Knight family find those answers, implying that he is not Richard, but all the while leaving a shadow of a doubt in everyone's minds.

In Boston, he encounters Gilbert Knight, the dowdy, dithering uncle of the missing Richard; Harry Boulding, the favored heir who stands to inherit millions upon the legal declaration of Richard's demise, and Perdita, Harry's fiance and Charlie Adair's niece. Reisden opens a full-scale search and investigation into the disappearance of Richard, as well as Jay French, the secretary to Richard's grandfather William, and the murder of William himself. Reisden becomes enmeshed in the Knight family background; searching for the history of a boy when he in fact has no memory of his own early childhood.

Sarah Smith entertained me greatly with this novel. It is appropriately moody and dark, the language reads with authenticity to the time period of the story, and although the author admits to 'bending timeline' a bit to make certain events fit her story...it is not bent enough to break continuity or believability. As a Boston resident I enjoyed many location descriptions and sank comfortably into the history of the city I now call home.

My only real critiques are: Some confusion with calling Reisden by the name Richard occasionally, in narrative, to further the thought that...'maybe' he is Richard after all; and for an undeveloped thread regarding the death of Reisden's wife, and for naming the Boston Common Frog Pond inappropriately as site of Swan Boat paddling...as well as some loose ends that are not tied up with the ending.

This is well worth the read, regardless of these criticisms. After reading that this was a planned trilogy all along, perhaps any lingering questions will be answered. And knowing that there are two other books to follow, I cannot wait to indulge myself in the others.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Very enjoyable!
Although the scientific jargon of the opening pages almost changed my mind about reading "The Vanished Child," I trudged through and found one of the most intriguing... Read more

Published on May 30 2002 by janmcalex

3.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written but disappointing
Call me shallow if you wish, but when I read a mystery novel, I want the story's loose ends to be neatly tied up when I reach the final page. I want to know whodunit and why. Read more

Published on Jun 23 2001 by annulla