Vanished: True Tales of Mysterious Disappearances

Gr 5–8—If readers can get past the unassuming cover, they will be rewarded with an engaging, well-paced exploration of six mysterious disappearances or acts of escape in history. Veteran author MacLeod expertly crafts these true stories into tales of intrigue, smartly including initiatives in modern science aimed at solving each one of these strange occurrences—an addition sure to be satisfying to the more skeptical readers. Beginning with the lost colony of Roanoke Island and ending with the art heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the book covers a fair amount of time. Readers will be spooked by the ghost ship Mary Celeste and amazed by the disappearance (and later re-creation) of the Amber Room. Each featured mystery is compared and contrasted to other events with similar circumstances (the lost colony of Roanoke Island is compared to the lost army of Cambyses). When it comes to new technologies (drones, GPS, underwater robots like the autonomous underwater vehicle), MacLeod presents an overview of what the technology is and how it is used generally and for the subject at hand. She also dedicates time to explore the possible pitfalls of these innovations, for instance, discussing how cell phones and computers can provide law enforcement with a digital trail to catch criminals but also stating that this same technology can help criminals escape and evade capture in the first place. The combination of highly readable text and a bright, visually appealing layout will attract reluctant readers.