Vanishing Act

Perry's female first-person narrator feels authentically womanly—albeit a Seneca kick-ass woman versus my ordinary amateur detective. He pulls this off effortlessly.

Perry is also a master of elongated suspense. You have to keep reading. You can’t stop. One surprising thing leads to another, and only Jane’s bag of tricks enables her to protect the woman she is trying to hide from nasty criminals. On the run with her charge for most of the book, the plot builds to a very satisfying conclusion.

Reading for me is often a temporary escape. There are people who need a permanent escape to avoid harm or death. Want to vanish? Jane Whitefield, member of the Wolf Tribe of the Seneca people, can make it happen. She uses ancient and modern techniques and a few twists she invented herself to spirit people to safety. But no good deed goes unpunished. In this first book in the series, Jane finds she’s the one in a trap and in need of escape. Not all new situations are without problems. An engaging read right to the end and an introduction… show more.

The first entry in Thomas Perry’s Jane Whitefield series is also the best, as the endlessly resourceful Jane overcomes a dazzling array of obstacles to save a client on the run. Vanishing Act offers insights into Native American culture and a portrait of an indomitable heroine with a strong moral code, while serving as a virtual textbook on how to disappear when the bad guys are after you. Sadly, the series declined pretty quickly after the first sequel. This taught me not to mess with a winning formula; Jane as an independent woman is great, but as a housewife married… show more.