I loved this book from the first page. J. F Freedman writes with a clean, straightforward style that grabbed my attention and didn't let go. Though the book is much more than a legal drama, the interaction in the courtroom was believable and realistic. However, it's the characters and their relationships that made this book special. When Luke Garrison decides to return to Santa Barbara, his old stomping ground, he has no idea what in store for him. Still, he'd rather lay his life on the line to defend a man wrongly accused of murdering a fourteen-year-old girl than walk away in defeat. While he grapples with the trial of the century, he also faces and conquers demons of his own. Though the plot is was not that hard to predict, there are many surprises along the way. I enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. ( )

I have two to-be-read piles. One holds unknowns and one holds what I call 'safety books.' Safety books are those that aren't probably going to take my breath away but are guaranteed to provide a nice, interesting read. I had tried and tossed several from the unknown pile, so I picked up The Disappearance out of the safety pile and I was not disappointed. Luke Garrison was promising district attorney who dropped out of site after it turned out that a guy he sent to the gas chamber was innocent. The case of Emma Lancaster brought him back - but this time for the defense. It is a nice, fat, book that moves along and satisfies. ( )

The story had me changing my guess on "Who did it?" several times throughout the book. Luke and his client's interviews played a large part in that. And I really didn't have the correct character as the murderer up until the last 25 or so pages. So, no reading ahead to get full impact. ( )

Loved this book and definitely want to read more of J.F. Freedman's books. This is the first time I have ever read a book by him and I flew right through it. ( )

The daughter of a well known TV station owner is taken from her bedroom in the middle of the night while she has two other girls with her for a sleep-over. One of the girls awakens as Emma is being carried out of the bedroom, but it isn't until the next morning that everyone realizes that Emma has disappeared. A local search does not reveal Emma's whereabouts, and it isn't until days later that her body is found, dumped by a mountain stream. An arrest is eventually made, and Luke Garrison, a once very well known and respected prosecutor agrees to defend the man charged with killing Emma. After Garrison successfully prosecutes and secures a conviction in a former case that leads to the execution of an innocent man, Garrison stepped down as prosecutor and left town to live in obscurity trying to deal with his guilt over the faulty verdict. He is drawn back into the defense of a man who is a friend of Emma's family but swears he did not kill her. The accused is the anchor for the TV network owned by Emma's father.

This is a tightly crafted novel of suspense that starts off quickly and never let's up until the surprising finish. I have found all the books I've read by Freedman over the years to be written with this same level of tension, excellent character development, and twists and turns I didn't see coming. The character of Luke Garrison is especially well done; he is a man tortured by his having sent an innocent man to be executed and desperately wanting to right that wrong, if he can, with this involved, complicated, and murky defense. I did not know until the very end when it was revealed who did murder Emma, and I was very well entertained on the path to finding out who did it. I highly recommend J F Freedman's books to anyone.who enjoys reading well written plots with characters that are interesting, complicated, clever, and realistically drawn. ( )