The Vanishing Kind

If you enjoy a crime thriller set in remote areas with events that feel all too real, look no further than Alice Henderson’s Dr. Alex Carter series. The Vanishing Kind is the fourth book featuring Alex, a wilderness area, and an endangered species. But the book is so much more than that.

Henderson has become my favorite author who emphasizes different facets of nature in a mystery thriller. After a chilling prologue in New Hampshire and some downtime in Los Angeles, Alex is called by Ben Hathaway, the regional director of the Land Trust for Wildlife Conservation. The rest of the book is set in New Mexico after she accepts a job to survey their Mogollon Wildlife Sanctuary near Azulejo. They believe they have some prime habitat for endangered jaguars and want her to do a species presence survey using remote cameras and hair snares, and if possible, collar a jaguar to get video and GPS information.

While Alex gets started on her survey, an archaeological team led by Dr. Enrique Espinoza is excavating a site believed to have buried treasure by a sixteenth-century Spaniard on a neighboring piece of land. She meets the team and learns what they have discovered.

A dangerous group of individuals wearing skull masks and who are very anti-immigrant are threatening both the dig and some businesses in town. It’s not long until Alex is threatened as well. The group is afraid that concessions will be made to the border wall allowing immigrants as well as endangered wildlife to cross the border.

Alex is a likeable character who is three-dimensional and had depth. She is a skilled wildlife biologist, adept at Jeet Kune Do style of martial arts, and is an expert shooter. She enjoys solitude, but has a few very good friends. She’s also polite, curious, determined to make a difference, has strong beliefs and ideals, and she enjoys meaningful connections and communication. She’s supported by an array of secondary characters that enhanced the story, but were not as fully developed. However, the relationships seemed believable and not contrived and provided the needed support or conflict.

The world-building was fabulous. I felt like I was transported to New Mexico with Alex as she carried out her research and encountered some tough and scary situations. The story was compelling, shocking at times, intense, and a great addition to the series. While there are some twists, I thought two of the main antagonists were too easily discerned and some of the action was over-the-top. However, this did not reduce my enjoyment of or enthusiasm for the book. Themes include wildlife sanctuaries, border protection, immigration, racism, chauvinism, murder, poaching, and endangered species.

The afterward has more information on jaguars, wildlife corridors, genetic isolation, wildlife overpasses and underpasses to avoid roads, and much more. There’s also a list of ways to engage, as well as books and videos about the jaguar. The author’s experience as a wildlife researcher and surveyor gives authenticity to the science and research methods used in the novels.

Overall, this combined mystery, nature, the environment, action adventure, and survival into one fantastic crime novel. It’s entertaining, compelling, and kept me rapidly turning the pages. Not only was this a fascinating mystery that kept me fully engaged, but I learned a lot about the jaguars historically as well as in current times. If you enjoy action-packed crime thrillers with an environmental and threatened wildlife theme, then this is a series to consider reading. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.

William Morrow and Alice Henderson provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently set for March 4, 2025.