Vanish (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: static hissed, White Sox, Lake Forest, Lake Michigan (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Pawlik's debut novel of inspirational suspense, two men and one woman wake up one morning to find that every other human being on the planet seems to have disappeared. (Yes, one character even uses that tell-tale phrase "left behind.") The three survivors hallucinate and sense they are being watched. But by whom? Protagonists Mitch, Conner and Helen not only struggle to survive physically, but find themselves pondering vivid memories and grappling with issues from the past. Helen, for example, regrets certain choices she made in her personal life years ago, and Mitch ponders unresolved issues with his parents. Conner mourns his dead son and failed marriage, and tries to cope with the fact that his ex-wife and daughter have become evangelical Christians. The circumstances of his survival prompt him to wrestle with questions of belief. Resolution and even redemption come for some of the heroes, but the prose is flat and the character development is thin enough that readers will have a hard time caring.
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Product Description

2009 Christy Award winner!
Three strangers each encounter the same mysterious storm and awake the next day to find that everyone else has vanished. There's Conner Hayden, a successful but unscrupulous trial lawyer who has forsaken his family for his career; Helen Krause, a middle-aged model struggling to come to grips with her fading beauty; and Mitch Kent, an enterprising young mechanic unable to escape a past that still haunts him. Afraid and desperate for answers, their paths eventually cross and they discover they are being watched. Elusive and obscured in shadows, the "observers" are apparently forcing them to relive vivid hallucinations of events from their past. They discover a mute homeless boy in tattered clothing and believe he may hold the key to the mystery, but the "observers" soon become aggressive and the four are forced to flee. When the boy disappears, the four decide to head from Chicago to Washington, D.C., in search of answers…and more survivors. Winner of the 2006 operation first novel contest, Vanish is a nonstop suspense thriller in the vein of Ted Dekker.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (June 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1414318936
• ISBN-13: 978-1414318936
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #278,674 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What would you do if everyone you knew just disappeared, June 13, 2008

By	Reader Views "www.readerviews.com" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

Reviewed by Wendy Cleveland for Reader Views (6/08)

Let me begin by saying "Vanish" was a very scary novel. It centers around three main characters: Conner Hayden, a divorced trial lawyer is spending the weekend with his daughter Rachel; Helen Krause, a middle-aged model is having dinner with her son Kyle who is leaving for New York; and Mitch Kent, a mechanic, is about to meet up with his girlfriend to ask her to marry him. During the course of the evening, a mysterious dark clouded storm takes over Chicago. Not remembering anything about the previous evening's events, each of them wakes up and discovers that everyone else has disappeared. Afraid and wanting answers each sets out to find other survivors. During the course of the novel, we discover that each of them has an event in their past that they can't seem to forget.

Conner's son, Matthew, drowned in their swimming pool while under his care. He seems to keep appearing in visions since the storm. Mitch's mother died from cancer when he was young, and his father called him before the storm to tell him that he was also dying. Both of them appear in visions to Mitch. Helen's son Kyle appears blistered and burned in her visions. Not only do they have to face their pasts, they each encounter faceless beings who whisper to them only at night. Eventually, the three cross paths, and decide to take a road trip to Indiana to seek out other storm survivors. In Indiana, they meet up with a strange farmer named Howard. This is when it starts to get really good. The ending was like something out of a Twilight Zone episode. You are just waiting for Rod Sterling to peak out from behind the curtain.

"Vanish" was the Winner of the 2006 Operation First Novel Contest sponsored by the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild, and it is evident why. Jerry Jenkins was the co-author of the "Left Behind" series, which this novel reminded me of. Just to think that something like this could really happen is very unsettling. It makes you not want to take anything or anyone for granted, and to make the most of every moment you have on this earth.

I highly recommend "Vanish" to anyone who is a fan of the "Left Behind" series as well as books by Ted Dekker. You won't be disappointed. Watch out the next time you see a storm coming.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Up late with this..., September 27, 2008

By	Love Starbucks "Love Starbucks" (NH) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

Like an end-times novel, only a few are left behind. I wouldn't say it was scary and it started becoming redundant. Suspenseful in that you couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't. Definitely a page-turner.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A book that won't let you go unchanged., September 6, 2008

By	davehuns (Mays Landing, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

Vanish is a chilling story that immediately draws you into a mysterious and discomforting reality. The setting might seem familiar at first but as you read you find that Tom Pawlik has put you in a place unlike any place you have ever been. Read this book. We all need to hear the message it offers. Here's hoping that Mr. Pawlik has a long career as a writer. His voice is a welcome addition to the genre of Christian fiction.