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The Vanishers by R.G. Belsky

Book & Author Info + My Thoughts

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The Vanishers

Megan Foley knows she saw the little boy. So why does everyone at the perfect seaside house insist he never existed?

The house was perfect. That was its first lie.

When Megan and her husband Patrick accept an invitation to spend the summer at a luxurious house share in Stone Beach, Connecticut, everything seems too good to be true. The rent is absurdly low. The host, Mrs. Monahan, is attentive to the point of unease. The other guests are pleasant — until they aren’t.

One day, Megan sees a boy, Tommy, playing… and the next, Tommy is simply gone. Not moved. Not spoken of. Erased, as though he never existed. All the other guests at the house look at Megan blankly when she asks.

One by one, the guests succumb to long hours in front of the television in a glassy trance. Patrick grows cold and distant. Something stirs in the attic.

Megan alone seems immune — but for how long? As she begins to doubt herselfand the house tightens its hold, she must confront the terrifying truth about Mrs. Monahan, the attic room, and the price of a perfect summer.

A chilling gothic thriller for fans of atmospheric domestic horror — available in Kindle Unlimited.

To purchase your copy of The Vanishers, click the following link: Amazon

My Thoughts on The Vanishers

The Vanishers combines Stephen King-style horror elements with a fast-paced mystery that harkens back to the simpler times of the Hardy Boys. There is a sweetness to Belsky’s characters, which play like a palate cleanser against the onslaught of bad human behavior we see on the daily news. While his protagonist and her pals do get into danger, they are kind to each other and the world feels a little less fraught, which balances beautifully with the danger he builds with the house.

The house, “a luxurious house share in Stone Beach, Connecticut,” is everything Megan and her husband Patrick could want. It’s the perfect place for them to try to mend their broken marriage, and at a price that’s too good to be true. Which is, of course, the first clue that nothing is what it seems.

Megan soon discovers that she’s the only visitor to the vacation rental aware of other vacationers disappearing. The schism between Megan and Patrick grows ever wider as she sees what’s happening, and Patrick buys into the “this house is perfect” mentality that is making everyone else, one by one, disappear—and not just vanish, but everyone left behind doesn’t notice anything amiss.

Despite the shambles of their marriage, Megan won’t let her hubby be erased, and so the mystery begins. What is going on at that house? Who is the landlady, really, and why hasn’t anyone ever seen that mysterious husband of hers?

A fast and fun romp ensues, with a touch of romance and a feel-good ending, The Vanishers is the perfect book to take to the beach.

Just don’t rent the seaside house if it feels to good to be true!

The Vanishers Author R.G. Belsky

R.G. Belsky is an award-winning author of crime fiction and a journalist in New York City. He writes the Clare Carlson series, about the news director for a New York City TV station. The first book, Yesterday’s News, was named Best Mystery of 2018 at Deadly Ink. The second, Below the Fold, won the Foreward INDIES Award for Best Mystery of 2019.

Belsky has published 25 novels—all set in the New York city media world where he has had a long career as a top editor at the New York Post, New York Daily News, Star magazine and NBC News. He also writes thrillers under the name Dana Perry. And he recently co-authored a psychological thriller called Swipe, about murder on the online dating apps, with best-selling writer Bonnie Traymore. Belsky has been a contributing writer for The Big Thrill magazine as well as for BookTrib.

To learn more about R.G. click on any of the following links:  Website, Facebook, & Blog

Elena Taylor | Elena Hartwell