- Hardcover: 420 pages
- Publisher: Ballantine Books (P) (May 1992)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0345373502
- ISBN-13: 978-0345373502
- Product Dimensions: 18.8 x 12.4 x 3.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 5,510,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
In 1887 eccentric millionaire William Knight was shot dead in his own New England parlour; his brutalised 10-year-old grandson disappeared the next day and was never seen again. In 1905, European aristocrat and research scientist Reisden is recognised as the lost boy. Reisden is sure that old Charlie Adair is wrong, though it is true that he has no memories of his early life and of the death of his parents in Africa, but is persuaded during an American trip to involve himself with the surviving Knights' affairs, to help them seek closure. He is still mourning his dead wife and finds himself endlessly protective of Perdita, near-blind musician fiancée of the new Knight heir.
She is in love with Harry Boulding, Reisden told himself, and engaged to Harry. I am in love with Tasy, who's dead. No, I was in love with Tasy, who died. He could not define what he felt for Perdita, only admit it. It was as though feeling was an island he had come to after a long voyage.
And suddenly he really does want to know what happened 18 years before and what the truth is; suddenly he has something at stake and it is not the Knight fortune. This first of Sarah Smith's much praised romantic thriller trilogy, The Vanished Child is a thrilling puzzle and a story of passionate emotions caught up in a clash of cultures; Reisden is the voice of a civilised Europe to whom these Americans' sense of propriety is mere barbarism. --Roz Kaveney --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Product Description
"Truly mesmerizing."
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL
New England, 1887. The millionaire William Knight is brutally murdered and the only witness is his grandchild, Richard, who himself disappears, and is presumed dead. Eighteen years later, Richard is "recognized" in Switzerland in the person of Alexander von Reisden, and William Knight's only son, Gilbert, is convinced that this man is the long lost child. Reisden, himself, has no memory of any childhood, and his own growing obsession with finding the real Richard is leading him closer to a shattering thruth. And to a killer, still at large....
"A most satisfying tale."
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK
From the Paperback edition.
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL
New England, 1887. The millionaire William Knight is brutally murdered and the only witness is his grandchild, Richard, who himself disappears, and is presumed dead. Eighteen years later, Richard is "recognized" in Switzerland in the person of Alexander von Reisden, and William Knight's only son, Gilbert, is convinced that this man is the long lost child. Reisden, himself, has no memory of any childhood, and his own growing obsession with finding the real Richard is leading him closer to a shattering thruth. And to a killer, still at large....
"A most satisfying tale."
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK
From the Paperback edition.
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First Sentence
THE BARON ALEXANDER VON REISDEN went mad after his young wife died, and in five years he had not got himself sane. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
THE BARON ALEXANDER VON REISDEN went mad after his young wife died, and in five years he had not got himself sane. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I've not been so disappointed by a book for some time. A promising plot winds boringly through far too many pages and fizzles out in a tangle of an unsatisfactory ending. This is fiction, not real-life mystery. Someone should have told this author that a reader will be happiest if loose ends are tied up, not left dangling messily and unconvincingly. Just how did Jay get into that barn? Walk there? I think not! I got the feeling that Ms Smith just ran out of imagination. She should read Christie for how this kind of thing is better done.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
In reading The Vanished Child by Sarah Smith one learns the important differance between mystery and confusion. If the story line itself does not immediately draw you in and keep you reading, the hype about the book, furnished on the cover and in sloppy notes attached to the shelf, unfortunately will. A prominant Boston businessman of the 19th century in the fashion of the Carnagys and the Vanderbuilts is raising his grandson to be his heir. He is murdered in his home and his grandson kidnapped. The story opens years later as a European scientist becomes accidentally involved in unravelling the mystery. While this sounds like an excellent premise for a story one is soon disappointed by the lackluster way in which it is told. American nobility such as the Carnegy and Kennedy families are a continuing fascination for this country as witnessed by their permanent residence on A&E Biographies. Yet the Boston nobility that inhabit this novel may as well be distant relatives for all the interest they hold. While some are sketchily drawn, others are regretably drawn out, so that an initial attraction and interest turn to dreaded thoughts of being caught in one of their drawing room gatherings for an endless afternoon. The pretty, legally blind love interest, somehow related to the Boston clan, quickly loses her charm as the reader must pore through pages about her daily routine and burgeoning romance, none of which rings true. The splintered narrative style used to drag the reader through this story creates a constant state of confusion about the motivation behind these unlikable, unlikely historical figures. Momentum propels the reader through the end of the book where a few gems of interest raise the stakes. Unfortunately, the only real mystery, one realizes, is in in how to better choose a book in the future.
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I found the book very intriguing, but nearer the end, I felt as though the author had given up on the story or that someone else had taken over. I was thoroughly disappointed with the ending. As I read, the book raised my expectations but failed to reach them. None of my questions were really answered. If you like books without an ending, read this one.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The best mystery in years!
The Vanished Child is rich in content, character, and plot. Agatha Christie, move over.
Published on 9 Aug 1999
a psychological suspense thriller not to be missed
Never have I read a book and lingered over it as I did The Vanished Child. A wonderfully, lyrical book that captures the reader's imagination from the opening pages and holds it... Read more
Published on 5 Aug 1998
A Fascinating Mystery
I could not put this book down. I began to feel as if I knew these people, and cared so much about what was happening to them, especially the child Richard. Read more
Published on 6 Mar 1997
An engrossing human mystery.
A compelling story of madness, self-knowledge, and child
abuse, all wrapped around a nifty little mystery. Read more
abuse, all wrapped around a nifty little mystery. Read more
Published on 10 Oct 1996
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