That is what you're going to be asking yourself three-fourths of the way through the 2006 Operation First Novel Contest winner, Vanish, by Tom Pawlik. It is a suspenseful, inspirational, and interesting book that will have you guessing until everything is revealed.
Summary: Three people find themselves alone on earth after a mysterious storm reaches them. The first, a lawyer named Connor Hayden, is successful at work, but falling apart in terms of his family. Then there's Helen Krause, A middle-aged model who must come to grips with the end of her career. And there's Mitch Kent, A mechanic who is trying to put his life together after his father ruined it. Though they are all stranded when they waken after the storm, they eventually meet up and decide to work together in order to figure out what in the world is going on. You can figure the rest out by yourself.
Questionable content: There is the rare usage of the words 'hell' and 'hellish', used somewhat lightly but never profanely. The characters swear often, but it is always hidden with phrases such as 'he swore', and 'a string of profanities left his mouth.' There is also the topic of sex before marriage, but it is dealt with as a bad thing. There are other sinful behaviors throughout the book, but they are always referred to as wrong.
Themes: The main themes in this book, I believe, are to not waste your life, and to reconcile yourself with people who you've hurt, because your memories will come back to haunt you if you don't seek, and find,
forgiveness.
Writing remarks: The book was written well, I thought, but I did notice the vocabulary was sort of repetitive. Sometimes it was intentional, in order to create the right affect, but other times I thought it was unnecessary, and kind of distracting. In my own, Type-A opinion, anyways.
Also, my friend's dad wrote this book. With all of these things in mind, I'll give this book a 4.0014 out of 5.0000.
-- Bob Schoch --
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