Publisher's Weekly Review
Wright (The Souls of Lost Lake) captivates with a thrilling tale of two women who get caught up in the secrets of a Wisconsin castle. It's April of 1870 when Daisy François seeks out employment at Castle Moreau, an imposing structure built by a French trapper. Orphaned at a young age and abused by her adoptive parents, Daisy sees a job as housekeeper at the castle as a chance at a new life. As women from the area go missing, Daisy is unwillingly drawn into a mystery that involves Ora Moreau--the castle's mysterious owner and the author of dark works of fiction. Meanwhile, in the present day, Cleo Clemmons, on the run from both her family and the law, accepts a job at Castle Moreau and hopes to stay under the radar. She's been hired to help Ora's granddaughter Virgie deal with her hoarding problem, but soon discovers artifacts that threaten to resurrect old secrets. Both Daisy and Cleo must draw on faith in God in order to protect themselves. The twisting, fast-moving plot is loaded with secrets, and the characters remain morally ambiguous until the end. Readers won't want to put this down. (Apr.)
Booklist Review
Cleo Clemmons' singular goal is to hide where she cannot be found, so an anonymous job at a legendary haunted castle in rural Wisconsin seems like the perfect solution. When strange messages and clues begin inexplicably finding their way to Cleo, however, generations of frightening rumors are unearthed about women disappearing forever inside Castle Moreau, once home to an acclaimed horror author. As she connects the castle's past with her own chilling sightings, Cleo realizes the horrors within may still be alive, and she must uncover the truth before she becomes the next victim. Told in three alternating time lines, The Vanishing at Castle Moreau is a gothic tale of pain, deception, and fear. Wright (The Souls of Lost Lake, 2022) portrays women stepping into their power and bravely facing life's darkness in order to more fully embrace beauty and love, and she is especially mesmerizing in the personification of Castle Moreau. The castle breathes, consumes, possesses, and entraps, becoming the most withholding yet redemptive character in the novel.
Library Journal Review
At the turn of the 19th century, a man built a European-style castle for his beloved wife in rural Wisconsin. The wife died shortly after, and ever since, women have disappeared around Castle Moreau. In 1870, orphan Daisy François is just desperate enough to take a position as a housemaid at the haunted mansion. She isn't asked to clean anything, though, and the famous gothic author who lives there is just as eerie as the horror stories she writes. In a parallel storyline set in the present day, Cleo Clemmons is hired by the current aristocratic owners of the castle to organize family heirlooms. It becomes hard for her to dismiss the legend of the haunting when the castle's doorknobs turn and walls creak. After a cassette tape with testimony about a missing woman is left on her car, Cleo is forced to confront the centuries-old mystery surrounding the castle. VERDICT Wright (The Premonition at Withers Farm) pens another delightfully creepy tale where nothing is quite as it seems and characters seek freedom from nightmares both real and imagined.
