It Was... Vaguely Blunt?

My mom has been attending writing conferences for a few years now. Remembering my strange obsession with Horror, she’s usually brought me back a few books to check out. One of them was Vanish by Tom Pawlik. Unfortunately, I never got around to reading it. By the time I had the time to read it my mom had given it to someone else.

I wasn’t too heart broken, because later on I bought it on my Kindle.

Yet… As usual, that didn’t help much and I never ended up reading it.

Finally, my mom (once again) came to the rescue, bought me another copy of the Vanish, which ultimately convinced me I needed to read this book.

Three short days later, I had.

If you’re following me on Twitter, you would have seen that what did break my heart was having to put the book down to sleep and eat. I mean, I know people miss those basic actions all the time. But if anyone has ever seen me running on a lack of sleep or food… They’d have no option but to agree that I should never miss those basic necessities.

Even with my mandatory breaks, I don’t think I’ve been that addicted to a book in a long time.

Vanish begins in Chicago. Conner Hayden, a high-end lawyer, starts his day feeling just a little strange and it only gets worse from there. After recent events, Conner is only trying to make life as normal as he can. While he thinks he may be doing at least a decent job, the world around him begins to seem like an extremely different place.

I felt a little silly because I honestly could not figure it out until Pawlik revealed what was going on. I had my guesses (and I think at one point I did guess the right answer) but I was so unsure I didn’t allow myself to think I was right. Then my mom asked, “Have you figured it out yet?” I panicked for moment thinking, have I missed something? Did I skip over some giant clue that was obvious to everyone else who’s read it?

I calmed myself by saying, “Eh, he’s gotta tell me at some point.”

This book is good because it’s a new look at something people have been guessing about for centuries. As usual, I don’t want to focus too much on the plot because that’s the magic of books, you don’t know what’s going to happen.

So in this review, I’ll try to stay on track and discuss Pawlik’s writing. What this review contains is my personal experience with the book; I picked out what made the story good for me. Mainly because I’m a little stuck for what to say about it.

Pawlik is certainly good at creating last-minute twists. The type of twists that haven’t truly been developed throughout the entire book. But show up randomly and throw off any stability you had managed to aquire. Then, looking back, you’ll see that there was that one small, tiny clue a few chapters back. However, the hint was hidden so well you didn’t bother to think much of it.

When reading Vanish I would have to say do not get too comfortable in one reality. It’s bound to change in the next chapter.

I appreciated one moment of description in particular. Authors use analogies, metaphors, similes, and other tricks to describe characters’ emotions and thoughts. 

A lot of them work, some crash and burn, and others just make perfect sense.

In Vanish (don’t worry, I’m only going to tell you the description side of the analogy), Pawlik has Conner think over an experience and recall it as getting into your own car after having used a rental for a while. Pawlik writes,

“His head was spinning as he tried to make sense of the images he had seen. No, they weren’t images. They were real. He had felt like a stranger in his own body. It was thick, awkward, and cold. Yet it had an odd familiarity, like the sensation he would have after driving for a long time in a different car, only to return to his old vehicle. It was familiar though still a little awkward.”

When you read Vanish, you’re probably going to do the same thing I did. Be amazed at how this simple analogy works so perfectly. In the context of the scene and the experiment, it made absolute sense. It feels silly to highlight this one little piece, but for some reason it stood out to me as I read.

Besides the best placement for analogies and metaphors, Pawlik’s use of doubt created, for me, the need to keep reading. Readers watch characters, who are hiding from their unrevealed pasts, put in a position where all they can do is face the truth. Truth about themselves, the world, and their current predicament. Vanish is layered and layered with battles physical and spiritual.

Pawlik dangles the answer right in front of you until the characters finally begin figuring it out.

Throughout most of the book I struggled fully letting myself accept that I knew what the story was about. The answer played in my mind, but, as I said, I wasn’t confident enough to state it for sure. There were a lot of elements and I wasn’t sure how they all fit my conclusion.

This toying created an interesting feel to the story. Kind of like another layer of depth. On one hand, the book seems pretty easy to figure out, and then you’re wondering if it’s got that mysterious pull to it. While on the other hand, you can’t be sure if your theory is correct… And it attracts you; it keeps you reading. 

The only way I could describe it is that in some strange way it was vague and blunt all at the same time.