Watch Me Disappear by Ross Armstrong (Book Review by Stacey Lorenson)

Book Rating: 4.0

Fast-paced– Suspenseful – Psychological Thriller

The minute I finished Watch Me Disappear by Ross Armstrong, I searched the internet for the sequel. I did not want this book to end!! I love characters that challenge the idea of ‘normal’ while refusing to operate within a prescribed box, enter…Tom Mondrain!

Armstrong’s protagonist struggles to recreate a new ‘normal’ after he suffers a gunshot wound to the head while on duty as a Police Constable in a small town in England. After his rehabilitation, Tom is reintegrated back on the force as a Police Community Support Officer with his new partner, Emre Bartu. They become obsessed with solving the mystery of five missing girls, all disappearing within weeks of each other. They agree to go rogue, disregarding their limited authority as community officers. What ensues is a fast-paced thriller as they race against time to locate the girls alive. Tom is really trying to solve two cases, the girl’s disappearance and who might have wanted him dead.

The banter between Tom and Emre is very entertaining. Emre is often the exasperated recipient of Tom’s unconventional behavior. Armstrong has constructed a multidimensional character that battles aphasia, synesthesia, prosopagnosia, who’s speech is often uninhibited, and he can no longer read. Well now, that’s the partner everyone wants, right?! Somehow, Tom and Emre bypass the physical and psychological disabilities to solve a crime that has escaped even the seasoned professionals on the force.

Watch Me Disappear is the first, in what promises to be, a very successful series. The Girls Beneath (#2 Tom Mondrain (2019)), is also available. Happy reading!!