In the Vanishing Hour

One night, in 1951, a body is found in the Charles River. Eight years later, there is another. Both shake the town of Norumbega, but more than that, both shake Frances Adams. The first death is her brother’s; the second, a new woman at her job who she had just begun to befriend. Frances finds herself fascinated by the second death and unable to take her mind off it, and she soon finds herself drawn into a morbid mystery.

In the Vanishing Hour is a beautifully written novel, giving a deep internal life to a character who seems to have very little within her to the rest of the world. Frances is quiet, observant, and hungry to become someone more than she is, even as she feels she has lost a part of herself forever with her brother’s death. Her constant inner monologue may be off-putting to some readers, but those who want a quieter read will appreciate it. My one complaint was that the chapters were so short and jumped around so much it was hard to really sink into the narrative.