This is the first book by Jodi Picoult which I have read, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I would describe Vanishing Acts as long, intriguing, multi-layered. Is it the greatest? No, but it makes me want to read more of her books. Her multiple-perspectives mean you get a 360° view of a situation and see how different people view the same thing, something we are not always privy to in real life. 
Delia Hopkins lives in New Hampshire with her widowed father Andrew and her daughter Sophie. She works with her own search-and-rescue bloodhound to find missing people. She is about to marry Eric, a friend since childhood. Everything seems happy, except for strange dreams which she cannot explain. ‘I am little, and he has just finished planting a lemon tree in our backyard. I am dancing around it. I want to make lemonade, but there isn’t any fruit because the tree is just a baby. How long will it take to grow one? I ask. A while, he tells me. I sit myself down in front of it to watch. He comes over and takes my hand. Come on, grilla, he says. If we’re going to sit here that long, we’d better get something to eat.’ Fitz, a journalist, who also grew up with Delia and Eric, cannot explain the significance of the lemon tree. But the puzzles keep coming, after a policeman knocks on the door and arrests her father for kidnapping.
This is a story about repressed memory and triggered memory, the difference of which is central to the court case which is the core of this novel. It is about trust, instinct and loyalty and how sometimes the hardest thing to do is the right thing to do.
It is a long book and some sections felt over-written, a style I sometimes find with American authors; using two metaphors where one will do. But the plotting is excellent and the rope of tension pulls you mercilessly onwards. My paperback [below] is an American edition by Washington Square Press, it changes typeface for each different point of view which I found surprisingly irritating.
And read the first paragraphs of VANISHING ACTS and NINETEEN MINUTES, both by Jodi Picoult.
If you like this, try:-
‘Somewhere Inside of Happy’ by Anna McPartlin
‘Something to Hide’ by Deborah Moggach
‘Crow Blue’ by Adriana Lisboa
And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview VANISHING ACTS by @JodiPicoult via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-2uE
“When I feel I haven’t had a book grab me in a while, or if I’m in a reading slump, I turn to this book, which is normally about once a year or more if I need it. One thing that draws me back to the book is the emotions in the book and how they have changed as I grew. What I take from the book and how I relate to the characters has changed over the years, it is a brand new book every time I read it. When I first read it I identified with Mark, the main character, but as now that I have my own family I identify with his mum and his lawyer.
Bronagh seems to have it all; her own flat, a fantastic new job as a party planner and a blossoming romance with long-term friend, Max. Little does she know that someone is plotting to take everything away from her.
What is a ‘Porridge & Cream’ book? It’s the book you turn to when you need a familiar read, when you are tired, ill, or out-of-sorts, where you know the story and love it. Where reading it is like slipping on your oldest, scruffiest slippers after walking for miles. Where does the name ‘Porridge & Cream’ come from? Cat Deerborn is a character in Susan Hill’s ‘Simon Serrailler’ detective series. Cat is a hard-worked GP, a widow with two children and she struggles from day-to-day. One night, after a particularly difficult day, she needs something familiar to read. From her bookshelf she selects 
“I first read it when I was about fifteen. I have always loved westerns, but this is probably the best western I have ever read. I bought it because I like the author’s style and stories. He is above all a great storyteller. I bought it in the winter and thoroughly enjoyed it. It has a great sense of ‘place’ with writing truly evocative of a cold, frozen climate. I read it every winter and never tire of it. It would in reality be strange to read it in the summer.
The plot: “King Mabry, an aging gunfighter and cattleman, is travelling to Cheyenne across frozen wastes and is being hunted for what he knows and the gold he is carrying. Thwarting his pursuer, he comes across a troupe of players (being led astray by outlaws), he is attracted to one of troupe and returning to help against his better judgement, tracks them and tries to help. Wounded, he is aided by one of the troupe who escapes. Travelling together they fight Indians, the weather and finally the outlaws in a tense action filled showdown. It is a perfect story of relationships, growth of spirit, survival and romance.”
Rupert Brett is back and it is 1995, with the property markets raging and the Sub-Prime madness just beginning. The Irish Sea, a shipment of drugs is intercepted, the IRA lose the cocaine and their most feared enforcer, Tir Brennan, is captured. Deauville, a wealthy French aristocrat has a terrible accident with far reaching consequences. Bogota, the head of the old drug cartels is dead and Ballesteros is now running new routes to the US and beyond. The events are all linked and somehow drugs are being smuggled with impunity across the globe. With a source originating in Palm Beach, US, Rupert Brett is again asked to go undercover, with SAS Sergeant Chris Adams as protection. They must find out how the drugs are being smuggled into the corporate world of property, polo and high finance. The answers run deeper than either could imagine and a dangerous former nemesis returns, throwing their lives into turmoil.
SANDRA DANBY'S BOOK REVIEWS 