Synopsis:
He loves you.
He loves you not.
He’s gone.
He’s everything they want him to be: a confidante, a sexy escape, a thrill — all that and more can be theirs . . . for a price. His victims never saw the con coming. And it worked every time.
Until now.
The predator just became prey.
What began as a Reddit true crime thread has escalated into a full-tilt hunt for the man behind countless masks. But are the three women driving the search a match for a master criminal?
Liz is a former journalist chasing her ticket back into the industry. Alex has a personal motive that must remain secret.
And the third? Quinn is his current target.
Can they outfox the ultimate swindler before he strikes again, this time with deadly consequences? Mr. Disappear is a gripping tale of deceit and revenge in which three women might get close to catching the devil. but will they get burned in the process?
Review:
Virginia Trench studied English at Vanderbilt University and holds an M.A. in secondary education from Colorado University, Boulder. She resides in Colorado with her family and when she’s not writing, she loves to explore the Rocky Mountains. Her debut novel, Our Secrets Were Safe, is a scintillating mystery about the death of a college student a decade ago and the two women who may know exactly what happened on that terrible night. Trench describes herself as a “thriller girlie first (obsessive reader and fan), thriller writer second.”
Trench says that Mr. Disappear was inspired, in part, by “Dirty John,” a television true crime anthology series and podcast detailing the story of John Meehan, a con man who victimized Newport Beach interior designer Debra Newell. And Netflix’s “The Tinder Swindler.” Mr. Disappear is a fast-paced, unputdownable thriller that is contemporary, cautionary, and emotionally resonant. Sadly, the story is thoroughly plausible and believable.
Trench reveals how despicable and morally bankrupt the title character is in a horrifying prologue that immediately pulls readers into the story and lays the groundwork for the battle that is about to play out. She takes readers into his psyche through his first-person narrative in which he explains his methodology and malignantly narcissistic approach to his life of crime.
Liz Cunningham has a loving and devoted husband, Blake, with whom she welcomed Emma, her beautiful six-month-old baby girl. But she doesn’t understand why her life feels like it’s simply not enough. She experiences crippling anxiety because she believes it should be. She feels guilty about missing her dream job as a senior news editor with the Los Angeles Times, a position she earned after getting a journalism degree from Northwestern and rising through the ranks from local news reporter. But she was laid off, along with many other journalists – casualties of the changing face the news industry in America. Now she’s contemplating launching a podcast and believes she may have found a perfect story to pursue. She’s following a Reddit thread about a catfisher that posters have dubbed “Mr. Disappear.” And when Liz recognizes one of his victims, her determination is cemented. The young woman in the posted photograph works at the retirement home where Blake’s grandmother resides.
Alex has been lurking on Reddit, following the same “We Will Find You” thread that Liz has become obsessed with. She has personal experience with the dashing Mr. Disappear but also has secrets. They provide ample motivation for her to refrain from reporting his actions to the police. As soon as she introduces readers to her, Trench reveals that Alex doesn’t know exactly how much evidence Mr. Disappear has marshalled against her, but he is a man who does not make idle threats, and he warned her not to look for him. She has no intention of heeding that warning, although she has spent “the past seven months swimming in guilt that was slow to harden into a plan. Hatred coils tight in her gut, and it loosens only when she reminds herself that his days are numbered. She’s going to make sure of that.” Alex is back in Colorado, where she grew up, supporting herself as an Uber driver. She reached out to Liz in a direct message four months ago and now they are going to meet in person.
Quinn is alone in the world. Her best friend is Mitzi Rosenstein, a feisty, eighty-three-year-old resident of the retirement home where Quinn is employed as the resident manager. Mitzi may have Alzheimer’s disease, but her spirit is indomitable and she is opinionated. She provides Quinn the emotional support she never received from her family and has “a Samantha Jones level of interest in Quinn’s dating life.” Because Quinn finally has a wonderful boyfriend. She matched with Rhys on a dating app and for her, it was love at first sight. They are planning to move to New York City together. Rhys plans to launch a healthcare app designed “to revolutionize decoding medical billing processes to help patients save money” that will “take on Big Pharma.” Quinn’s mother abandoned her when she was a very young child – she doesn’t even have any early memories of her. Her father was an alcoholic who met Quinn’s stepmother, Cheryl, during one of his stints in rehab. They married, had three children, and became pillars of the local Mormon community, hiding their relapses from the church elders. A few months ago, Cheryls’ father died at only fifty-seven years of age from cirrhosis. He specified that Cheryl should have control of his substantial inherited wealth. Despite the fact that Cheryl essentially banished Quinn from the family with no objection from her father, Quinn remains hopeful that Cheryl will honor his promise to bequeath a considerable sum to her. Her inheritance should be more than enough for Quinn to pay off her student loans, invest in Rhys’s new business venture, get them settled in their new home.
Of course, Rhys is well aware of the way Quinn’s family has treated her over the years, that she lacks self-confidence, and is crazy about him. He is supportive and encouraging, urging Quinn to stand up for and assert herself to ensure that Cheryl delivers what Quinn’s father promised. He plays on how willing she is to use the money to fund the happy future they have planned. In all ways, he is a perfect partner: attentive, affectionate, generous. And Quinn has no idea of the danger she is in.
The three women’s lives converge in the pursuit of the man who has wreaked havoc in and destroyed the lives of numerous male and female victims. The exact number of people he has preyed upon is unknown. But he has left shattered careers, marriages, and families in his wake before simply vanishing and adopting a new identity with which to reel in his next mark.
With Liz, Alex, and, eventually, Quinn doggedly chasing him, his career as a bon vivant swindler — and worse — may be coming to an abrupt end.
Readers will cheer for the trio of flawed, but endearing and empathetic intrepid heroines who are intent on keeping Rhys — or whatever his real name is — from claiming even one more victim! Trench effectively employs alternating narratives detailing the women’s perspectives. She slyly injects clues to Alex’s past into the chapters related from her perspective, deftly keeping readers guessing about her past and degree of culpability. Her commitment to stopping Mr. Disappear never wavers.
Liz endeavors to reconcile her conflicting emotions about the demands of motherhood and her desire to maintain the identity she forged for herself as a competent, dedicated journalist. Her struggle is exacerbated by a husband who doesn’t understand her feelings, either, and a haughty, judgmental mother-in-law who arrives to help with childcare but fails to understand boundaries. Trench’s depiction of Liz’s post-partum depression is based on personal experience. As Trench’s characters illustrate, it is a mental health issue “that is frequently misunderstood, underreported, and undertreated. There are tremendous cultural stigmas and systemic inequalities surrounding it and man other challenging aspects of becoming a parent,” she writes. Still.
Quinn’s is effectively a coming-of-age story. At the outset, she is naïve, with little romantic experience. Precisely the kind of young woman con men target. But she discovers her own strength, resilience, and courage. She refuses to be another one of Mr. Disappear’s victims.
Mr. Disappear is an impressive second novel. It is as propulsive and engrossing as Our Secrets Were Safe, if not more so, establishing her as a solid thriller author, with a growing number of fans anxious to see what she will write about next.
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