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Vanish
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.
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.
384 pages, Paperback
First published June 4, 2008
169 people are currently reading
989 people want to read
About the author
Tom Pawlik
10 books67 followersJUMP IN. HANG ON.
Tom Pawlik award-winning author of the The Quantum Chronicles a series of rip-roaring space adventures featuring his half-alien hero, Johnny Quantum. He has also written Vanish, Valley of the Shadow, Beckon, The Way Back, Son of Man and Recollection from the 7 Hours anthology. His thought-provoking, edge-of-your-seat thrillers are infused with nonstop suspense that grabs you on the first page and won't let go until the last. He lives in Ohio with his wife, six children and one large dog. He currently works as a novelist, educator and freelance writer. He’s also an accomplished public speaker and loves to address almost any group to talk about writing, story, art and culture or just about any other topic he thinks he knows everything about.
Tom Pawlik award-winning author of the The Quantum Chronicles a series of rip-roaring space adventures featuring his half-alien hero, Johnny Quantum. He has also written Vanish, Valley of the Shadow, Beckon, The Way Back, Son of Man and Recollection from the 7 Hours anthology. His thought-provoking, edge-of-your-seat thrillers are infused with nonstop suspense that grabs you on the first page and won't let go until the last. He lives in Ohio with his wife, six children and one large dog. He currently works as a novelist, educator and freelance writer. He’s also an accomplished public speaker and loves to address almost any group to talk about writing, story, art and culture or just about any other topic he thinks he knows everything about.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 161 reviews
July 23, 2011
Got this book for Kindle for free. The blurb sounded interesting enough, and I love me some scifi/thriller/horror novels. Unfortunately, this is one of the biggest horseshit piles of apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic Christian fiction I have ever read, and that's saying a lot given that I am an atheist that has read some of the very trashy Left Behind series. Plus, nothing in the blurb made that obvious. Well, now you know.
The really disappointing part of this was that the half of the novel before the author decides to stuff his idea of redemption and sinning down your throat was actually kind of compelling. Not the best writing or character development, but you could almost believe that this was an interesting twist on a postapocalyptic novel involving aliens that were mindfucking with the survivors.
Too bad the ending instead involves a disturbingly negligent father with ignorantly religious daughter and mother praying for his life getting saved from the clutches of Death himself by a Jesus-lookalike while the two African American inner-city teens, the faithful son that mercy kills his terminally ill mother, and the mentally ill woman that decides that an abortion is the right thing to get after discovering she is pregnant by a boyfriend-crush that doesn't love her back all go to hell for their irredeemable actions. You know, because the workaholic father that lets his son drown and doesn't discover this for half an hour can just regret what he did and live with it and the others don't even get a chance. Ending suffering, making a difficult choice, and being born black is a sin, folks.
Oh, and the best part of all the scenes involving the father? He's told that maybe God let his son drown so the father would realize what it feels like to watch his only son die. I guess this opportunity to have Death show up and God teach a lesson is why the father got to hog the majority of the ending and was redeemed where all the others were just screwed.
Fuck Tom Pawlik and his judgmental ass. I don't need to be Christian to realize that that isn't Christian behavior.
The really disappointing part of this was that the half of the novel before the author decides to stuff his idea of redemption and sinning down your throat was actually kind of compelling. Not the best writing or character development, but you could almost believe that this was an interesting twist on a postapocalyptic novel involving aliens that were mindfucking with the survivors.
Too bad the ending instead involves a disturbingly negligent father with ignorantly religious daughter and mother praying for his life getting saved from the clutches of Death himself by a Jesus-lookalike while the two African American inner-city teens, the faithful son that mercy kills his terminally ill mother, and the mentally ill woman that decides that an abortion is the right thing to get after discovering she is pregnant by a boyfriend-crush that doesn't love her back all go to hell for their irredeemable actions. You know, because the workaholic father that lets his son drown and doesn't discover this for half an hour can just regret what he did and live with it and the others don't even get a chance. Ending suffering, making a difficult choice, and being born black is a sin, folks.
Oh, and the best part of all the scenes involving the father? He's told that maybe God let his son drown so the father would realize what it feels like to watch his only son die. I guess this opportunity to have Death show up and God teach a lesson is why the father got to hog the majority of the ending and was redeemed where all the others were just screwed.
Fuck Tom Pawlik and his judgmental ass. I don't need to be Christian to realize that that isn't Christian behavior.
June 2, 2018
I loved this book. This is the best book I've read this year. Its the first Christian novel I've read that isn't trying to shove religion down your throat. Damn good book. I'm an atheist and it makes me really think about rather God is real or not. Makes me wonder what its like after you die. Is there really a Heaven and Hell? Is there really a purgatory?
I originally thought this was an alien book but there more like demons. More of a come to terms with your personal demons kinda thing. The book also made a very good point, people worship god and praise him but the second something goes wrong in their lives they immediately blame him, no one want to take responsibility of their own lives. Stop blaming God for your mistakes.
I originally thought this was an alien book but there more like demons. More of a come to terms with your personal demons kinda thing. The book also made a very good point, people worship god and praise him but the second something goes wrong in their lives they immediately blame him, no one want to take responsibility of their own lives. Stop blaming God for your mistakes.
May 17, 2010
The title is excellent foreshadowing of what I wished this book would do about 1/2 way through it.
Vanish starts out reasonably well with a sci-fi/mystery vibe. There is a strange storm that occurs one night and leaves only a few people "alive" on Earth. These people eventually meet up and seek safety from the "aliens" who seem invulnerable to bullets, or any type of protection and seeming;y can kill just by touch.
Despite the campy feeling of the first quarter of this story, I found myself rooting for the protagonists, and wondering about the nature of the alien beings.
About half way through though, this book started on a downward slope. The character development slowed dramatically, and the level of introspection became overwhelming. If Conner thought about his son anymore I thought I would scream!
The real kicker came when I realized that this book was a religious book incognito! Oh how the alien facade fooled me. I admit it I was suckered in. When I realized that this book was turning into a religious in-your-face point of view of the author I almost burned it (well deleted it from my kindle). I picked this out of the mystery section for Pete's Sake. I can honestly say I will never read another word written by this author, and regret picking this one up at all. If an author wants to write religious propaganda, fine. To dupe people into buying it is terrible.
3/5 stars for the original concept at the outset
2/5 stars for the writing style and poorly developed characters
-5 stars for the biblical blindsiding.
Vanish starts out reasonably well with a sci-fi/mystery vibe. There is a strange storm that occurs one night and leaves only a few people "alive" on Earth. These people eventually meet up and seek safety from the "aliens" who seem invulnerable to bullets, or any type of protection and seeming;y can kill just by touch.
Despite the campy feeling of the first quarter of this story, I found myself rooting for the protagonists, and wondering about the nature of the alien beings.
About half way through though, this book started on a downward slope. The character development slowed dramatically, and the level of introspection became overwhelming. If Conner thought about his son anymore I thought I would scream!
The real kicker came when I realized that this book was a religious book incognito! Oh how the alien facade fooled me. I admit it I was suckered in. When I realized that this book was turning into a religious in-your-face point of view of the author I almost burned it (well deleted it from my kindle). I picked this out of the mystery section for Pete's Sake. I can honestly say I will never read another word written by this author, and regret picking this one up at all. If an author wants to write religious propaganda, fine. To dupe people into buying it is terrible.
3/5 stars for the original concept at the outset
2/5 stars for the writing style and poorly developed characters
-5 stars for the biblical blindsiding.
March 17, 2013
Terrible. I got this as a free Kindle download. I would like a refund for the time I spent reading it. The description gave it a sci fi thriller billing...but it was actually Christian fiction. Not a cool bait and switch. It was terrible Christian fiction at that. You could smell the Jesus saves redemption ending from somewhere in the first chapter and as a result there was nothing thrilling at all about this story.
September 17, 2012
Hateful Christian-Themed Narrative. Warning: if you would prefer NOT to read close-minded, hateful, violent, Christian-themed soul-threatening literature, avoid this book. It is a rapture novel - ultimately a horror story in which the villain is God. I am not Christian, but I grew up that way and I know that Christianity, at its heart, is a peaceful and loving faith, and not the dark twisted representation in this book.
May 10, 2011
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 set 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 Serling to peak out from behind the curtain. 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.
December 19, 2020
This starts out as a science fiction story, with the kind of premise Philip K. Dick used to love. It's initially compelling and has some OK characterization, though the African-American teenagers really didn't seem credible. Around a third of the way in, though, the plot starts to drag, not really going anywhere. After a slow slog through most of the rest of the book with not much happening, the aliens are suddenly revealed to not be aliens after all. The book goes deus ex machina and reveals the preachy Christian agenda that was the reason for the whole exercise, and then revels in a woman being condemned to hell for eternity for being a model (shock horror) and having an abortion.
As the book ends, things which were repeatedly dangled as clues to the reader are left unexplained. Why was everyone constantly thirsty? Why did contact with the creatures produce an ice-cold purple rash? Why were the creatures repelled by bright light? If there's some Christian theology these plot points refer to, you should at least reference it for readers who aren't subject matter experts.
As the book ends, things which were repeatedly dangled as clues to the reader are left unexplained. Why was everyone constantly thirsty? Why did contact with the creatures produce an ice-cold purple rash? Why were the creatures repelled by bright light? If there's some Christian theology these plot points refer to, you should at least reference it for readers who aren't subject matter experts.
November 29, 2010
Hmmmm... I made myself finish this book only because I was half way done with it and really wanted to know if it would ever be revealed what was going on. You really didn't realize what was going on to the end of the book.. and that was entirely too long to go. The characters were underdeveloped so even though I really wanted to know what was going on, I didn't care about the characters one bit! I was just angry that I made it half way through this book and still didn't know what was happening. It was very slow and drawn out. Maybe it would have done better as a short story?? I don't know.. but I definitely wouldn't recommend you waste your time.
December 23, 2009
The first 3/4 of this book is completely devoid of any plot/character developments. There is occasionally a sense of terror that kept me going, hoping that something would happen... Then the end came, and I was left completely dumbfounded. Rather than being an interesting alien mystery, we have religious BS. I really need to start researching books before I read them...
August 11, 2016
Religious propaganda. Took a decent horror story and routed it directly through the church in the last 20 pages. Awful.
January 22, 2021
I read this in one day. For some reason I had a feeling that if I put it down in the first third that I might not pick it up again. I had no idea what it was about, I just wanted to clear it from my kindle, since it has been sitting unread since 2009, but I felt I had to give it a chance first. The writing style is almost YA which probably made it so readable in the beginning. It’s quite spooky in the beginning, Definitely kept me turning the pages. Maybe if id known what the book was about in advance I wouldn’t have read it because this genre isn’t usually one I go for but I did enjoy it and some parts have really stayed with me. I realize the imagery is metaphorical but it was very effective and thought provoking for me. I notice there is a sequel which kind of annoys me, lol, because now instead of simply being able to delete an old kindle book, now I have to read the sequel because I have to know what happened to some of the other characters. Where did Devin vanish to? And why? Will Mitch figure out why he is where he is in time to save himself?
July 9, 2009
I loved this book! It was easy to devour, and I was totally blown away by the ending — Not what I was expecting at all!
Vanish by Tom Pawlik is the first book in the series.
I think Tom takes a very creative and liberal approach in this book, but I take it for what it is; a work of fiction that entices our minds to look beyond the here and now. I love how Christianity is sprinkled throughout this book, but is not heavy, so a wide range of audiences can relate and enjoy this book.
The chapters are nice and short, so if I was interrupted (and with 4 little people underfoot that happens every so often), you could put it down and feel like you left at a good spot instead of frantically reading to get to the end of the chapter. By the last quarter of the book I am in shock and awed by the what’s happening – I wasn’t expecting it and it became clearer (hindsight is always 20/20 right? lol)
I savored how Tom pulls the book together in the end, and you realize what is really going on (how’s that for summing it up w/o giving it away? lol).
I found the dark verses light theme in here really appealing. It is a basic theme that I think everyone can relate to and understand. I think it would be a good cross-over to mainstream book and encourages us enough to really think about things, and what is important in our lives. I’ll be looking for the second book Valley of the Shadow for sure!
Vanish by Tom Pawlik is the first book in the series.
I think Tom takes a very creative and liberal approach in this book, but I take it for what it is; a work of fiction that entices our minds to look beyond the here and now. I love how Christianity is sprinkled throughout this book, but is not heavy, so a wide range of audiences can relate and enjoy this book.
The chapters are nice and short, so if I was interrupted (and with 4 little people underfoot that happens every so often), you could put it down and feel like you left at a good spot instead of frantically reading to get to the end of the chapter. By the last quarter of the book I am in shock and awed by the what’s happening – I wasn’t expecting it and it became clearer (hindsight is always 20/20 right? lol)
I savored how Tom pulls the book together in the end, and you realize what is really going on (how’s that for summing it up w/o giving it away? lol).
I found the dark verses light theme in here really appealing. It is a basic theme that I think everyone can relate to and understand. I think it would be a good cross-over to mainstream book and encourages us enough to really think about things, and what is important in our lives. I’ll be looking for the second book Valley of the Shadow for sure!
April 17, 2015
A blin date book ( one i did not choose myself), Vanish is truly at the bottom of the literary barrel. Its author, despite proclamations of awards won on the books cover, wrote this novel with a shaky concept and only a fistful of words. Something of a post apocalyptic tale, Vanish follows a few characters after some sort of event has occured, and theyve found themselves in a world alone. Nearly everyone has disappeared, food has gone moldy, mysterious skin conditions run rampant, inexplicable aliens hover in the shadows and weird mute children waste our time. None of these characters were in any way likeable, nor were they believable. They incessantly made idiotic choices, and expressed their shock and awe using the sma etwo or three expressions over and over, and yet, at other moments were bizarrely non chalant about strangeoccurences in this ethereal land. Several hundred pages of nonsense led us up to a lack lustre and (shocker) preachy conclusion that left me wondering, if this was the point, the moral, the big finale, why waste so much time and so many pages tempting readers with a story that goes nowhere and is essentially explained with 'thats just the way it is.''
Mindless and silly, and offensively bad, do NOT spend any time on this novel. Youll never get it back, and you wont come out richer for the experience.
Mindless and silly, and offensively bad, do NOT spend any time on this novel. Youll never get it back, and you wont come out richer for the experience.
September 15, 2010
The story starts out with snapshots in the lives of the three main characters – Mitch, Conner and Helen. After noticing an on-coming storm, all three wake up to find everyone else has disappeared. While searching for signs of life, they find one another and begin their journey to find out what has happened to the world as they knew it. They come in to contact with strange beings they think may be aliens and find other people, some of whom disappear just like the others.
I started reading this book without really knowing what I was getting myself into. About half way through, I wondered if I was reading some Sci-Fi Thriller (which I wouldn't normally pick), so I started reading some of the reviews by other readers on Amazon. I discovered the author is a Christian writer and some readers were unhappy that the Christian theme/message was hidden until the end...until they had already gotten hooked. Knowing that was helpful, but certainly didn't make me like the book any less.
I couldn't put this book down. I highly recommend it if you like Mystery, and particularly if you like Christian Fiction.
I started reading this book without really knowing what I was getting myself into. About half way through, I wondered if I was reading some Sci-Fi Thriller (which I wouldn't normally pick), so I started reading some of the reviews by other readers on Amazon. I discovered the author is a Christian writer and some readers were unhappy that the Christian theme/message was hidden until the end...until they had already gotten hooked. Knowing that was helpful, but certainly didn't make me like the book any less.
I couldn't put this book down. I highly recommend it if you like Mystery, and particularly if you like Christian Fiction.
June 12, 2015
I read this book in high school and loved it! Once I was out of high school the memory of this book popped back into my head, but I could not remember the name or author and for years I have been trying to figure it out and finally thrilled to say I have. That being said I thought this was an amazing book! I did not know this was a Christian book which probably made it better for me not knowing while reading. I also did not know which direction the book was going and once it was revealed I was shock. I would defiantly reread this book.
January 5, 2010
Stayed up till 1am reading this book, so I'm paying for it now.
This was free on Kindle so I wasn't expecting much, but it was pretty suspenseful and kept my attention. The whole Christianity thing was way too heavy-handed, though. I definitely wouldn't have read it if I had known in the beginning that it was a "Christian suspense" book. By the time I realized, I was already hooked in the story. But the religious parts really grated on me and I skipped over them.
This was free on Kindle so I wasn't expecting much, but it was pretty suspenseful and kept my attention. The whole Christianity thing was way too heavy-handed, though. I definitely wouldn't have read it if I had known in the beginning that it was a "Christian suspense" book. By the time I realized, I was already hooked in the story. But the religious parts really grated on me and I skipped over them.
December 29, 2008
The story began as a creepy alien abduction story. The end took a strange turn and began preaching morality with strong objections to pulling the plug on coma victims. Not at all where I thought this story was going.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 19, 2019
Weird but very good story. Everyone in the world vanishes except three people, and they are being stalked by strange creatures.
January 23, 2009
Excellent book! Not my usual genre, but I decided to give it a try. Couldn't figure out where the author was going with the story...WOW! Awesome ending, can't wait for the next one!!
January 17, 2010
A free book through the Kindle bookstore, right from the beginning I was afraid it was going to be a heavy handed, Christian story disguised as a thriller/horror... and it was.
February 23, 2014
This is the first book I read on my kindle. Enjoyed the story.
February 5, 2016
Great book! Very, very scary at the beginning. You will be totally fooled by this book, so read on..... Quite frankly, I'm even sending it to a few selected friends.
May 14, 2016
Interesting start, kept my interest. loved the twist!
February 22, 2018
Vanish
Brianna L. Pierce
February 22, 2018
English 12 - 1
Author’s Background:
The author of this book is Tom Pawlik. He is a very imaginative person when it comes to writing his books. At a young age he read a book that sparked his interest and imagination and he started writing his own creepy books such as this one. He started writing books and stores very early, but he wasn't published until he was 42. He has written several other books such as Valley of the Shadow, Beckon, The Way Back, Son of Man, and Recollection.
Literary Time Period:
This book was published on June 2, 2008. Also in 2008, George W. Bush was elected as president of the United States. The stock market crashed also in 2008. Congress rejected the bank bailout bill so the The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 777.68 points in intra-day trading.
Setting:
The book makes you think the people are traveling the world, but in reality they are in a state of mind. Kinda like a life between life and death. The “in between”, or the place you go when you are near death.
Characters:
Connor Hayden: lawyer, chooses work over family, has a strong disbelief in god, his only son died because he wasn't watching him and he drowned by falling into a pool, has a heart attack that puts him in the place he is in.
Helen Krause: used to be a model, Killed herself by overdose because she was lonely and her beauty was fading, was left in her apartment dead till the end of the book when connor wakes up and tries to find everyone.
Mitch Kent: mechanic, in a coma after a severe motorcycle accident.
Theme:
Mystery: The entire book is about 3 people waking up and the entire world is gone and these weird, scary looking, killer, aliens are after them. It is a mystery as to where the rest of the world is and what the heck those alien figures are and what they want.
Suspension: This book is full of suspension because you never know when the grey figures are gonna show up and what they will do. Will the people be able to escape them? Will the figures attack or just stalk? Will more people be found? Will the rashes spread?
Plot Summary:
This book is about these 3 strangers that are all having a normal day when all of a sudden they look up and see this weird storm. Next thing they now, they wake up and have no recollection to what just happened. They then notice that the entire world has seemed to disappear besides them. They each venture out trying to find other people until they all 3 end up together. They keep traveling and gathering supplies and looking for others. Whilst they are doing this they are being stalked by these tall, grey figures. None of them understand as to why they are here and why the all their food is stale, and why everyone woke up at different times, and what these creatures are and what they want and where people are disappearing to. Towards the end of the book Connor, one of the main characters, wakes up and finds out that he is being given CPR because he is dying in the hospital from a heart attack. He finds out that all the people are in comas or dying and that the world he was in was the “in between” where people that are dying go to, and the “grey creatures” are demons. Connor wakes up and finds out why each of the people were dying.
Literary Devices:
Rashes: Whenever the grey figures would touch one of the people, the people would get this terrible purple and black rash that worsened by the day and spread and was very painful. This represented death. The rash represents the end stages of death. When the rash consumes the person, they die.
Grey figures: The grey figures that are stalking and chasing and trying to capture the people represent death demons. Once they take you, you are dead.
Memorable Quotes:
1. “They taste kind of stale.” pg.110
This quote is memorable because it is the one thing I don’t completely understand. Throughout the book the people would say how stale the food was. But why? Why was the food stale? Everything else was normal except the food.
2. “Sheeesh! Talk about a ghost town.”
This quote is memorable because the people said it without realizing they basically were in a ghost town...Everyone in that town was dieing and basically a soon to be ghost.
Brianna L. Pierce
February 22, 2018
English 12 - 1
Author’s Background:
The author of this book is Tom Pawlik. He is a very imaginative person when it comes to writing his books. At a young age he read a book that sparked his interest and imagination and he started writing his own creepy books such as this one. He started writing books and stores very early, but he wasn't published until he was 42. He has written several other books such as Valley of the Shadow, Beckon, The Way Back, Son of Man, and Recollection.
Literary Time Period:
This book was published on June 2, 2008. Also in 2008, George W. Bush was elected as president of the United States. The stock market crashed also in 2008. Congress rejected the bank bailout bill so the The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 777.68 points in intra-day trading.
Setting:
The book makes you think the people are traveling the world, but in reality they are in a state of mind. Kinda like a life between life and death. The “in between”, or the place you go when you are near death.
Characters:
Connor Hayden: lawyer, chooses work over family, has a strong disbelief in god, his only son died because he wasn't watching him and he drowned by falling into a pool, has a heart attack that puts him in the place he is in.
Helen Krause: used to be a model, Killed herself by overdose because she was lonely and her beauty was fading, was left in her apartment dead till the end of the book when connor wakes up and tries to find everyone.
Mitch Kent: mechanic, in a coma after a severe motorcycle accident.
Theme:
Mystery: The entire book is about 3 people waking up and the entire world is gone and these weird, scary looking, killer, aliens are after them. It is a mystery as to where the rest of the world is and what the heck those alien figures are and what they want.
Suspension: This book is full of suspension because you never know when the grey figures are gonna show up and what they will do. Will the people be able to escape them? Will the figures attack or just stalk? Will more people be found? Will the rashes spread?
Plot Summary:
This book is about these 3 strangers that are all having a normal day when all of a sudden they look up and see this weird storm. Next thing they now, they wake up and have no recollection to what just happened. They then notice that the entire world has seemed to disappear besides them. They each venture out trying to find other people until they all 3 end up together. They keep traveling and gathering supplies and looking for others. Whilst they are doing this they are being stalked by these tall, grey figures. None of them understand as to why they are here and why the all their food is stale, and why everyone woke up at different times, and what these creatures are and what they want and where people are disappearing to. Towards the end of the book Connor, one of the main characters, wakes up and finds out that he is being given CPR because he is dying in the hospital from a heart attack. He finds out that all the people are in comas or dying and that the world he was in was the “in between” where people that are dying go to, and the “grey creatures” are demons. Connor wakes up and finds out why each of the people were dying.
Literary Devices:
Rashes: Whenever the grey figures would touch one of the people, the people would get this terrible purple and black rash that worsened by the day and spread and was very painful. This represented death. The rash represents the end stages of death. When the rash consumes the person, they die.
Grey figures: The grey figures that are stalking and chasing and trying to capture the people represent death demons. Once they take you, you are dead.
Memorable Quotes:
1. “They taste kind of stale.” pg.110
This quote is memorable because it is the one thing I don’t completely understand. Throughout the book the people would say how stale the food was. But why? Why was the food stale? Everything else was normal except the food.
2. “Sheeesh! Talk about a ghost town.”
This quote is memorable because the people said it without realizing they basically were in a ghost town...Everyone in that town was dieing and basically a soon to be ghost.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 6, 2025
Read like a bad B horror movie with some nasty American Christian fundamentalism sprinkled on top. It pretty dated, with the talk of terrorism and hummers, as well as some poorly written aave for the hardly mentioned black character to speak when needed. Nothing was written from his point of view, despite him being with the main cast of the book since the beginning, he seemed to be written more like a prop for the other characters to play with than a person of his own. In addition, I was especially not a fan of them sending the only female character in the main cast to hell for having an abortion.
It feels like this author was trying really hard to relate to agnostic middle America; targeting white, preferably upper-class people who have been raised Christian but don't believe anymore but mayyybe if life circumstances get bad enough they could be pulled back in. I despise how predatory that kind of behavior is, and do not like to see it in literature. It may also be written that way because the author doesn't believe any other kind of people outside of that realm exist or are worth relating to, which also not a great reason.
Anyways. I need to double check before checking out library mysteries for weird Christian Fundamentalist messages now, because this one was a real stinker.
It feels like this author was trying really hard to relate to agnostic middle America; targeting white, preferably upper-class people who have been raised Christian but don't believe anymore but mayyybe if life circumstances get bad enough they could be pulled back in. I despise how predatory that kind of behavior is, and do not like to see it in literature. It may also be written that way because the author doesn't believe any other kind of people outside of that realm exist or are worth relating to, which also not a great reason.
Anyways. I need to double check before checking out library mysteries for weird Christian Fundamentalist messages now, because this one was a real stinker.
October 28, 2023
So I liked it. Not that big of a deal.
I do kind of regret putting the book off for so long because it literally took me MONTHS to get this book finished.
I liked the idea of the plot, but it could do with a bit more fixing.
It was lengthy, and the all 3rd person POVs made it kind of boring. I'm either used to reading books with 1st person POV or I just don't like 3rd person POV.
The end tho is what got me. LIKE WHEN I FOUND OUT HOW THEY ALL DIED AND MADE IT TO THE OTHER WORLD OR WHATEVER, I WAS LIKE "For real? The timing was so ✨✨✨ PERFECT!!"
Anyway, yeah. That's is literally all I have to say.
I do kind of regret putting the book off for so long because it literally took me MONTHS to get this book finished.
I liked the idea of the plot, but it could do with a bit more fixing.
It was lengthy, and the all 3rd person POVs made it kind of boring. I'm either used to reading books with 1st person POV or I just don't like 3rd person POV.
The end tho is what got me. LIKE WHEN I FOUND OUT HOW THEY ALL DIED AND MADE IT TO THE OTHER WORLD OR WHATEVER, I WAS LIKE "For real? The timing was so ✨✨✨ PERFECT!!"
Anyway, yeah. That's is literally all I have to say.
December 10, 2017
When I first started reading this it felt like I’d read it before. But that was only with the first chapter or so. So I’m thinking I’d probably checked this book out from the library before but had to return it before I’d really gotten into it. Anyhow, this book sucked me right in. I kind of guessed what was going on before it came out though. But even still I wanted to keep reading to see what happened next. I liked this book so much that I went and got the second book in the series before I finished the first!
October 5, 2017
This will definitely make you do some deep thinking. I read this because I liked the synopsis of the book. At first I thought it was just a science fiction. I can't think of what to say about the book without giving away the ending. Four strangers come together after waking up from a strange storm and find everyone else gone. They band together looking for answers and that is just what they find. This is a suspense thriller to the end. Will leave you with lots to think about how you live your life.
November 23, 2018
Not for me. I really hate when I get a book that I feel compelled to slog through that I really don’t enjoy. I stuck with this though because I really needed a resolution. On the bright side, there is an explanation for all the weird events occurring around this group. Unfortunately, the explanation is so judgmental and disappointing that for someone who doesn’t believe in a higher power, it doesn’t make you wish to start, and for someone who does believe, it makes you want to reconsider. I’m not sure that was the intent.
September 14, 2023
This was a strange book. It felt vaguely familiar and I may have read it previously. That feeling did not take away from the story, which kept me trying to figure out what was happening. It took me most of the book to put the pieces together. It was eerie and had me totally fascinated. I read it in 2 days because I couldn't put it down. I am relieved to have finished it and to understand the author's point. It is a book that will linger. If you like a page-turner that will keep you guessing, check out this book!
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