The Vanished by Bill Pronzini
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"With Cheryl it was her eyes, it would always be her eyes; I could see them once more, mentally, and all the things they had contained, and the reflection in them of what she had in turn discovered in my own eyes..."

Continuing the PIE (Pronzini Immersion Experiment) I have now read The Vanished (1973), one of the earliest novels in the acclaimed "Nameless Detective" series. And I quite like the novel, similarly to Hardcase that I have reviewed a week ago. Nothing particularly memorable but a nice, solid and mostly captivating read.

A young woman, Elaine Kavanaugh, hires the detective (ND henceforth) to find her fiancé, Roy Sands. Roy is a master sergeant and his 20 years in the Army are up. He had spent the last year in Germany and came back to the Presidio Army base in San Francisco from where he has disappeared. Elaine is much in love with Roy: they have been planning the wedding and their future life together. The case takes ND to Eugene, Oregon, and then - after he finds an address of a German art gallery on a piece of paper that could be traced to Roy - to Germany. Roy's three Army buddies are helping in the investigation.

I have been impressed by a very well written passage that describes ND falling in love with Cheryl, a woman he meets while investigating the case. But while the detective's feelings are portrayed eloquently and plausibly, Cheryl's character is not drawn realistically. On the other hand, Elaine, his client, comes through as a full-bodied and compelling character. I like the plausible and logical solution of the case where the denouement is preceded by a fairly graphic but well-written scene of a brutal fight.

As I mentioned in the review of Hardcase it is only natural to draw comparisons between Bill Pronzini's ND novels and Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer series. Both authors try to "humanize" their private detectives. Of course, Macdonald succeeds to a much higher extent than Mr. Pronzini, and reading The Vanished revealed yet another reason for this difference of class. Both detectives are well-meaning, honest, and deeply decent. Yet while Pronzini's hero is just a guy, Macdonald's Archer is a Universal Human Being, embodying the common plight and pain of human existence.

Still, the novel is a true good read, and gets my recommendation. I have two more Pronzinis on my shelf.

Three stars.


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