What is the title of your latest release?
THE VANISHING PLACE
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A child who ran from the forest. A woman who must return to it.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I love a nature-centric thriller, where the setting is a wild dark character of its own, and I wanted to write a story with nature at its core. I live in New Zealand, where there is bush so vast and so dense that it can devour you completely. In fact, there is currently a wanted man in New Zealand who has been hiding in the bush with his three children for four years. He has evaded all attempts by law enforcement to find him, from police searches, to dogs, to drones, to helicopters. While The Vanishing Places isn’t inspired by this true story, it does draw on the vastness of the New Zealand bush as a fantastic setting.
Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Absolutely. I would love hiking in the hills with Effie then going for a coffee. I love her strength and how fiercely independent she is. But, like me, I think she is some who also needs her close female friends for support. I think, at first, I might find her a bit intimidating and standoffish, but once the ice thawed, we would get on very well.
What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Strong. Damaged. Moral.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
That editors have superpowers. While getting those first editorial notes back is somewhat soul destroying, editors have the ability to approach the book in a completely different and incredibly valuable way. Yes, their feedback is intense, and I did cry, but ultimately editors are able to guide you in a way that brings your best work to the forefront. It’s a truly impressive skill.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I do a bit of editing as I go as I like my first draft to be relatively pretty in terms of the writing style and the dialogue. My first draft definitely isn’t a skeleton draft. I like for the scenes and characters and language to be fleshed out. The next draft, which involves a lot of editing, focuses on the plot and the character arcs.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
French pastries. Yum.! My local European style café and bakery, Ciabatta, is actually mentioned in the acknowledgements of my book as I spent so much time there writing and eating pains aux raisins!
Describe your writing space/office!
I used to have a whole room in our house to write in. But, due to the arrival of two small people, I have been relegated to a corner of my bedroom! This could, in part, explain why I spent so much time writing in cafes and eating pastries. I would love, one day, to have a bright office space to call my own.
Who is an author you admire?
Charlotte McConaghy. Gosh, I love her style of writing so much. After finishing her most recent book, Wild Dark Shore, I closed the final page and whispered into the room (not that anyone was in it), ‘yep, it’s confirmed, Charlotte McConaghy is my favorite author.’
Is there a book that changed your life?
The Dry by Jane Harper. I can still remember the moment, years ago, sitting in my garden and finishing The Dry. It was such an outstanding book, such a fully immersive and exciting read. So much so, that I wasn’t ready to let the story go. I read the Acknowledgements and researched a bit about Jane Harper online, where I discovered that she did a selective-entry course with Curtis Brown Creative and published The Dry at age 36. I set a goal then to get onto the Curtis Brown course and to publish my debut at 36 (I was about 29 when I read The Dry). I truly committed to my dream to be a writer after reading that book. Something about it was so inspiring and it sort of lit a fire in me. After a while, I was selected for one of the Curtis Brown courses and my debut comes out this year. I will be 37 when it is released – which is pretty close!
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
After a lot of back and forth between my agent and the NZ publisher, and lots of nerves, the first official offer came through via an email from my agent, five days before Christmas.
The moment that I got the offer from the US was quite memorable. My husband and I and our two girls (aged one and four at the time) were about fifteen hours into a campervan holiday – our first ever one. Our youngest had spewed all over herself, no one had slept that night as we’d been parked up on the side of a road, and we had just received a message to say that our ferry was cancelled (as we were driving to the boat). Emotions were running high, at least half of us were in tears, and we pulled into the side of the road to try and assess the situation. Then my phoned pinged with an email saying that Berkley Penguin had made a phenomenal offer for my book. I was in shock for a good few minutes!
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Literally thrillers or historical fiction.
What’s your favorite movie?
The movie that I have probably watched the most is About Time. It has all of the good feels and warm fuzzies! And, Bill Nighy uses his time travelling super powers, not to try and take over the world, but to read more books! What’s not to love!
What is your favorite season?
Summer in Scotland. Autumn in New Zealand.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Riding my bike, spending time with friends and my family, and eating good food.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
A Man Called Otto. What a beautiful movie. I was either crying or smiling the whole way through. I believe it’s meant to be a wonderful book too.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Indian Curry. Curry is hands down my favorite type of food. When my husband and I were travelling and biking in India we had curry twice a day and it was incredible (my husband even got into the breakfast curries). We did a five-day bike race in India where every lunch time the race stopped for an hour and the organizers served out huge curries to the riders. Sadly though, hard exercise and curry is not something I have mastered!
What do you do when you have free time?
I like to go mountain biking, read, drink coffee, see friends, and go hiking with my young kids (age two and five).
What can readers expect from you next?
Another nature-centric thriller based in New Zealand. A powerful setting and a small lake-side community with lots of secrets.
THE VANISHING PLACE by Zoe Rankin
A shocking murder in the New Zealand bush—and the witness who looks all too familiar—draws a woman back to the very place she swore she’d never return to in this breakneck debut thriller.
A child who ran from the forest.
A woman who must return to it
Growing up with her younger siblings in the unforgiving New Zealand bush, Effie believed their parents had cut them off from civilization because they loved Nature. She never suspected that their reasons might be more menacing. After witnessing a terrifying episode of violence, she escaped the wilderness to forge a life for herself halfway across the globe.
Now, when she learns the only witness to a murder is a little girl who looks just like her, Effie is compelled to return to the scene of her troubled childhood, where the secrets of her upbringing and the terrors of her past come rushing back to the surface. In order to find out once and for all what became of her family—and possibly help this mysterious girl who could be her younger self—Effie must face her greatest fears once more.
Audiobook Narrators- Eva Seymour, & Gareth Reeves.
Thriller Domestic | Thriller Psychological [Berkley, On Sale: September 16, 2025, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9798217188093 / eISBN: 9798217188109]
Buy THE VANISHING PLACE: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com | Apple Books | Kobo | Books-A-Million | Indie BookShops | Ripped Bodice | Libro.fm | Audible | Walmart.com | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR
About Zoe Rankin
Zoë Rankin grew up in a village in Scotland. She studied International Relations and Arabic before going on to qualify as a primary school teacher. She spent many years travelling in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, and eventually settled in New Zealand. She has always been passionate about writing as well as spending time outdoors and exploring by bike, often with her two small children who are equally adventurous.
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