Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Length: 320 pages
Audiobook Length: 8 hours and 30 minutes
First Published: 2021
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Rachael’s Review
Up-and-coming British actress Mia Eliot heads to Hollywood to get her mind off her recent shocking breakup. While auditioning, Mia does a favor for another actress which turns into much more of a hassle than she expected. Yet, the next time they meet, Mia swears that Emily is a completely different woman, and no one believes her. My surprise pick for the best psychological thriller of 2021, The Disappearing Act knows exactly when to hold your suspense and when to pivot with an engaging story that keeps you guessing.
Publisher’s Description
A British actress discovers the dark side of Hollywood when she is the only witness to the sudden disappearance of a woman she meets at an audition.
Once a year, actors from across the globe descend on the smog and sunshine of Los Angeles for pilot season. Every cable network and studio is looking to fill the rosters of their new shows, enticing a fresh batch of young hopefuls—anxious, desperate, and willing to do whatever it takes to make it. Careers will be made, dreams will be realized, stars will be born. And some will be snuffed out.
British star Mia Eliot has landed leading roles in costume dramas in her native country, but now it’s time for Hollywood to take her to the next level. Mia flies across the Atlantic to join the horde of talent scrambling for their big breaks. She’s a fish out of water in the ruthlessly competitive arena of back-to-back auditioning. Then one day she meets Emily, another actress from out of town and a kindred spirit. Emily is friendly and genuine and reassuringly doesn’t seem to be taking any of it too seriously. She stands out in a conveyor-belt world of fellow auditionees. But a simple favor takes a dark twist when Emily disappears and Mia realizes she was the last person to see her. And when a woman knocks on Mia’s door the following day claiming to be Emily and isn’t the woman Mia remembers at all, Mia is deeply troubled.
All Mia has to go on is the memory of a girl she met only once . . . and the suffocating feeling that something terrible has happened. Worse still, the police don’t believe her when she claims the real Emily has gone missing. So Mia is forced to risk the role of a lifetime to try to uncover the truth about Emily, a gamble that will force her to question her own sanity as the truth goes beyond anything she could ever have imagined.
Actress and author Catherine Steadman has written a gripping thriller set in a world close to home that asks the question: In a city where dreams really do come true, how far would you go to make the unreal real?
About Catherine Steadman
Catherine Steadman is an actress and author. She starred as Mabel Lane Fox in Downton Abbey. She is the author of Something in the Water, Mr. Nobody, The Family Game, and The Disappearing Act. She currently lives in North London, UK.
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