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Vanishing Ladies
Vanishing Ladies | Ed McBain
1 post | 1 read
A vacationing police detective stumbles upon a human-trafficking ring that threatens his fiancée in this thriller by the author of the 87th Precinct series. Phil Colby is just cruising into Sullivan’s Corners when the motorcycle cop flags him down. Phil isn’t worried; he wasn’t speeding, and as a city cop on holiday in a neighboring state, he expects a certain amount of understanding. But the local cop is unimpressed by his brother in blue, and he doesn’t buy the story that he borrowed the car from a fellow detective. He drags Phil in for questioning, and a relaxing vacation becomes a nightmare. When Phil and his fiancée, Ann Grafton, finally get free of the local force, the only place they can find to stay is a room in a sleazy motel on the edge of town. When Phil steps out from a shower, there’s an underage prostitute in his bed, blood on the walls . . . and no sign of his beloved Ann. To find her, he’ll have to tear Sullivan’s Corners apart—and destroy the evil that lurks beneath the surface of this peaceful country town. A grim story of sexual slavery, Vanishing Ladies is a novel ahead of its time. From the legendary Ed McBain, creator of the famous 87th Precinct series and screenwriter of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, this is noir at its rawest.
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tokorowilliamwallace
Vanishing Ladies | Ed McBain
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Panpan

The manner in which the set-up and the sketchy character gaslighting for such plot purposes just didn't come to me in a good mental state, so was just too triggering at the time. The middle section of the book improved this and was the best, with its dialogue and characterization. The ending was quick, anticlimactic, and didn't really answer my questions of context and character contradiction satisfactorily. I almost DNF'd this early on. 66ish%