+ Springf’d Republican p11a Je 20 ’20 500w
CHILD, RICHARD WASHBURN. Vanishing men. *$2 Dutton
20–7298
“The psychology of terror is the outstanding theme of ‘The vanishing men.’ Indeed, the sense of terror communicates itself to the reader, for the disappearance of two men and the portentous fate hanging over the heroine are apparently insoluble mysteries. One man plans an elopement with her but fails to appear and is not heard from again. Afterwards she marries a wealthy man some years her senior. He is attacked by a mania of fear, and eventually vanishes, too. Then a wealthy young man falls in love with her, and she warns him of the fate visited upon her previous lovers. But he is courageous and optimistic and refuses to be deterred by such fantasies of the imagination. He starts an investigation, and eventually presents a simple solution of what happens previously.”—Springf’d Republican
“So ingenious a mystery that devotees will forgive the loose plot structure and the improbable characterization.”
+ − Booklist 16:346 Jl ’20
“The whole problem is put and solved in an original way, and some readers will be grateful for a mystery story without the old properties and machinery.” H. W. Boynton
+ Bookm 51:584 Jl ’20 250w
“The story would greatly profit by a general tightening up. Its charm lies entirely in the formulation of the mystery, and with its solution the charm vanishes into incredibly thin air.” D. L. M.