Vanishing Girls

In Katia Lief's Vanishing Girls, the third installment in the Karin Schaeffer Mystery thriller series,  get ready to be thrown into a twisted and violent world of child sex trafficking. It's close to Christmas time in New York City, when Karin's husband Mac is sick with the flu, and their close friend Billy is dealing with a major case of PTSD, Karin comes to the scene of a horrible crime. Another woman is found dead on the streets and a young child was hit by a car, putting her in a medical-induced coma. As a criminal forensic specialist, not yet part of the NYPD, she talks about the issue with her babysitter Chali Das for her son. As it made sensational news once again, Chali wanted to tell her something, before her daughter Dathi visits her from India. But before she could, it was too late, when she was killed. Now this meant something personal to Karin, when she contacted with Dathi and her folks in India about the harrowing news. While dealing with the loss of her baby girl from a miscarriage, she aches to have a child for her own and did everything she could to save Dathi from her uncle selling her for child trafficking across the globe. And she took care of Dathi under her home, while she bonded with Abby Dekker, who dealt with the loss of her family, and waking from her coma. That's when Karin started to piece the puzzle together when Dathi went missing as she learned a shocking conclusion about who killed Chali and the others in the end.

This was a gripping and dark thriller that dealt with hard-core subject matters. I cared for Karin all the way from start to finish on how she dealt with so many things at one time. I also feel for Dathi, who had lost her mother, and had bonded with Abby, when they discovered a sick secret together. And it had connected the dots from one set of murders to another. I also cared for Billy, who had deal with being blind in one eye, and being haunted by his own inner demons. I loved the NYC scenic settings and vivid locations, especially during the holiday season. This would pull your heart strings, grimace and groan, give you a weak stomach in some scenes, root and cheer for Karin to solve the mysteries with nonstop action, drama, intrigue and suspense.

Will you check out Vanishing Girls today?