How can an entire family disappear into thin air?

An empty house on the edge of a small town . . . a teddy bear abandoned . . . a half drunk glass of wine . . . the TV left on and all the computer equipment missing. Where have Hutchinson Kemp and his wife and two children gone?

Detective Rondeau doesn’t think they left by choice. However he is on the verge of cracking up as he pursues the trail of the film-maker and his family who have disappeared without a trace. Rondeau discovers disturbing evidence that big money and government might have something to do with the chilling crime, but no one seems to believe him anymore. Ignoring his sceptical police colleagues, he puts his life at risk as he races to find the family in this twisting-turning crime thriller. Are the family even still alive, and what are their abductors trying to hide?

My Review

I’ve been listening to this on Audible. I really like the narrator, which to me is very important. Sometimes less than a minute and I think I can’t stand this voice. But this was perfect.

I love a conspiracy theory, but it must have its roots in fact. I don’t believe that Elvis is alive and living on the moon with Princess Diana. We are not talking about the National Enquirer here. I have this idea that when the world population hit 7 billion, someone, somewhere, decided to release a pandemic to bring it down. Ok, maybe not, but there has to be an inkling of possibility.

Detective Rondeau’s brother-in-law Millard is full of conspiracy theories. So when the Kemp family disappears, he has a list as long as your arm. Has the family been abducted? Not by aliens thank goodness, but by government – the ‘deep state’ – the FBI, the CIA or whatever. Rondeau doesn’t believe him but he knows something is going on. Is organised crime involved, the mafia even? He had a run in with the FBI a few years back over the Valentine serial killer and it didn’t end well for him. He has the bullet holes to prove it.

Hutchinson Kemp is a filmmaker. His last documentary Citizen Farmer was about the meat industry. It suggested that the meat industry was more responsible for global warming than fossil fuels. Methane causes the biggest damage to the environment. Of course the big players don’t like anything that affects their profits. I saw a programme about this recently and I was appalled.

Kemp’s latest project involves waste. It’s called Nothing Disappears. It will also be controversial, but we know it’s a fact. Where does it all go? Into landfill, the oceans, we’ve seen the devastation it can cause to wildlife.

I really enjoyed this book. There is something rather prophetic about it, considering it was published four years before the pandemic and people keep getting sick. And I love the ending – you know the saying ‘just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they are not after you’.

About the Author

T.J. Brearton’s books have reached half a million readers around the world and have topped the Amazon charts in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. A graduate of the New York Film Academy in Manhattan, Brearton first worked in film before focusing on novels. His books are visually descriptive with sharp dialogue and underdog heroes. When not writing, Brearton does whatever his wife and three children tell him to do. They live happily in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. Yes, there are bears in the Adirondacks. But it’s really quite beautiful when you’re not running for your life.