Book Review: The Vanishing Game by Kate Kae Myers

The Vanishing Game by Kate Kae Myers

Pages: 384
Publish date: December 2014
Publisher: Bloomsbury
ISBN: 161963127X
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

The bond between twins is unmistakable. For Jocelyn and Jack, that bond was all they had. But now Jack is dead. Then Jocelyn receives a letter from Jason December-the code name Jack used when they were children. Only one other person knows about Jason December: Noah, Jocelyn’s childhood crush. But Noah isn’t the one contacting Jocelyn. Together they decide to return to Seale House, the frightening foster home where all three of them lived together. Seal House has more secrets than they could have ever imagined. And it suddenly seems possible that Jack faked his death, that the letter and the riddles that follow are cryptic clues leading to his real whereabouts. But someone else is looking for him-someone dangerous. Jocelyn and Noah must race to find Jason December. That is, if he’s alive.

The Vansihing Game:

I received a copy of The Vanishing Game by Kate Kae Myers from Bloomsbury Australia to review this has in no way influenced my thoughts on the book.

I have been waiting to read The Vanishing Game for a long. I don’t remember when it was but when I read the synopsis I knew that I needed the book in my hands. But it wasn’t published in Australia yet so I waited and when I saw it in the Bloomsbury catalogue I knew that I had to ask for it.

When it appeared in my PO Box, I started to read it straight away. And once I started I could not stop. The plot is addicting, when you start reading and you will not be able to put the book down.

The Vanishing Game is brilliant. It has a knack of messing with the reader’s mind. They have no idea what is going on, what is going to happen next. Myers writing is intriguing and the way that she builds the storyline is fantastic.

When you start reading you think that the novel is going into one direction but then you are smacked in the face and you are now going into a complete different directions.

“Everywhere I went the pain of losing him went with me. It wore me like a backpack, slapping a rhythm of heartache against my soul with each step.”

I found Jocelyn a truly interesting character, she was easy to get along with but then thinking about it, it’s totally wired that I get along with Jocelyn. The reader is following Jocelyn on her journey to find her dead brother who has been apparently sending her clues to find him.

All these clues lead her in and around Seale House the terrifying foster home that her and Jack once lived when they were younger. Seale House holds a lot of chilling secrets and they slowly start to come out.

There is quite a couple of flashbacks throughout The Vanishing Game and it adds so much depth to the story and you start to put some things together about Seale House and Jocelyn and her brother Jack.

“Life is a series of shallow breaths. And in any breath, everything can change.”

Then there is Noah, Jocelyn and Jack’s childhood friend from Seale House. Jack like Seale House holds his own secrets that the reader soon puts things together and will find out.

I love Noah as a character, his introduction to the reader isn’t the best but we soon get to see how caring Noah is and how much he does care for Jocelyn. As Noah and Jocelyn start working together after her return, they start to uncover some pretty gruesome stuff. Turns out the house’s powers weren’t just a figment of a childish imagination.

And not only that someone is after Jocelyn and they send all times of people to end the job. There are houses blowing up, dark and spine-chilling basements and some things that don’t simple add up. But by the end of The Vanishing Game your mind will be blown and you will in a state of not knowing what the hell just happened in a good way.

The Vanishing Game is a thrilling, compelling and beautiful piece of work. Kate Kae Myers is an incredible writer that knows how to capture an audience and keeps them hanging on to every thread.

Have you read The Vanishing Game yet? Did you like it? Will you read it?