Vanishing Point

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/vanishing-point-by-michaela-roessner/

I thought Vanishing Point was rather good. It is set in California, thirty years after the mysterious vanishing of ninety per cent of the human race. A small community of researchers based in the Winchester House (or something very like it) is trying to work out what actually happened. A woman scientist from farther east joins them after a dangerous trek across country. They are beset by fanatics who think that the Vanishing was the Christian fundamentalist Rapture. Everyone is suffering post-traumatic disorientation and survivors’ guilt. It’s all very nicely and credibly put together. I see a couple of reviewers complaining that the science doesn’t make sense, show more but really, it’s all handwavium anyway, isn’t it? show less

Vanishing Point was originally published in 1993. This new publication comes at a time when dystopian novels have become the rage.

It’s been 30 years since a huge percentage of the population just Vanished. No trace was left behind. The Vanished took nothing with them and there were no bodies. Those who were alive back then lost many loved ones and trying to rebuild their lives has not been easy. A lot of them live their lives in fear; not knowing if it will happen again, wondering if their loved ones will ever return to them.

The population has split into many cult-type communities. The Homers refuse to leave the home they lived in at the time of the Vanishing, thinking their loved ones may come back in The Return. The Watchers spend show more their time taking shifts to watch over each other in case another Vanishing takes place. The Hackers spend all of their time researching the source of the Vanishing, looking for anomalies that might reveal the early warning signs of another such happening. The Penitents are busy making amends so they aren’t left behind if it happens again. These are just some of the cult-like groups that have formed.

The main focus is on a group who has taken up residence in a house which was a well-known tourist mansion in San Jose, California. Those who live there call it The Home. Legend has it that the old woman who owned The Home was visited by spirits, who told her to keep building on to the house. It is thought that these spirits may have been preparing the way for those who live there now, giving them a safe haven in which to rebuild their future.

The Home now includes a couple of generations born after the Vanishing. The first generation, those approaching 30 years old, were all born with a metallic sheen to their hair. They can see an aurora in the skies that the older generation can’t see. They have been raised without modern conveniences and taught strong survival skills. Although their children were not born with metallic hair and better vision, they are somehow different too. These children speak in a strange slang, they seem more intuitive and they call the Homers “ghosts.”

As in any world, the peaceful societies are threatened by those who have a different agenda. In this case, the threat comes from those known as the ‘Bounders, or the Heaven Bound. The ‘Bounders believe that everyone who Vanished has ascended to Heaven, and that anyone who got left behind must have done or not done something, that excluded them. They also believe that no one person will be allowed to ascend to Heaven, until all have faith and live their lives accordingly. It’s everybody or nobody, and they disapprove of those planning for an earthly future.

When the ‘Bounders become more dangerous with threats of war upon those who stand in the way of their salvation, the other groups must band together to fight back and save what they have built.

Vanishing Point is not fresh material in the heyday of dystopian books, but it probably was at the time it was written, making it somewhat of a classic read. I liked the characters. The main character Renzie, is a tough, independent woman with a bit of hidden loneliness. Nesta is a middle-aged researcher who lived through the Vanishing, and works with the hackers to figure out what caused it. Of course, a lot of the research includes physics, but not too much and nothing that you can’t follow along with or learn from. Interesting premises abound, everything from theories you might have heard about on “Aliens Among Us”, to a time warp, the Left Behind theory…….

No, I won’t give away what it really was! I recommend that you read and find out for yourself:) This is a tightly woven story in which the author paints a broad picture and ties up all the loose ends, leaving us with no unanswered questions.

By the way, "the Home" is based on a real place in San Jose! Go to http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/ to read more.

I want to thank the publisher (Endeavor Press) for providing me with the ARC through Netgalley for an honest review. show less

First of all, that book cover is terrible. It screams, "1993!" The novel itself holds up pretty well more than 20 years after publication. Although references to saving everything on disks are dated, overall Roessner doesn't get into too much technology that dates her. (Although possibly if I was more tech-skilled, I would feel differently.)

The book opens 29 years after The Vanishing -- a morning when 10 percent of the global population woke up to find the other 90 percent had simply disappeared without a trace. In those nearly three decades, the survivors have mostly grouped up into communes, cults, and gangs, with a few older people still maintaining their homes and desperately waiting for their vanished loved ones to return.

The show more novel focuses on a commune of sorts living in the Wincester Mystery House, where they've continued to build in the same haphazard fashion. While they try to solve the mystery of how and why the Vanishing occured, the "Housers" also have to deal with a cult that believes those left behind lacked faith and if the non-faithful are eliminated, the newly faithful will join the vanished.

Sci-Fi isn't a genre that I read often, especially not written for an adult audience. Some of the sciency-stuff and battle-planning made my eyes blur a bit (which just reflects on me as a reader, not the book), but the prose and the characters, which it seems like often suffer in this genre, are excellent. While there's an understandably large cast, the main characters are all fleshed out and believable. The differences between those who survived the Vanishing, the first generation (now young adults), and the second generation (strikingly independent children), are fascinating. show less

Thirty years ago, 90 percent of the world's population suddenly vanished in the middle of the night, and those who are left are still searching for the cause as well as trying to move on from the catastrophe.

This one was a mixed bag for me. Here's what I enjoyed: It had a strong sense of place, making particularly good use of the well-known Winchester Mystery House and the surrounding environs. The characters were well-done and believable people. It presents a more benevolent view of post-apocalyptic society than most books in the genre, offering a vision of a rather attractive communal society; yes, there are threats, but humankind has not devolved utterly in the face of catastrophe. Solving the mystery of why everyone vanished (no show more spoilers!) keeps the story moving.

Here's what I didn't enjoy: I found the writing very choppy and in need of editing; in many places, it felt like an early draft rather than a polished work. This is science fiction, and the science seemed--to me, at least, without a lot of technical knowledge of these things--very hand-wavey; I wanted to believe, but a lot of it sounded like gobbledygook. The pacing felt off, too slow at the beginning and then so fast at the end that it was somewhat hard to follow.

So a middling book, likely underread but of interest to those who have plowed through all the well-known titles in the post-apocalyptic genre. show less

This book kept me up late reading and I was sorry to see it end, I would like to read a sequel to see what becomes of the characters. It is a rarity in the science fiction world: a novel with well-developed characters with believable motives and a realistic look at love and relationships.

Thirty years after most of the world’s population disappeared, a band of survivors inhabiting the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California try to find the cause of the catastrophe and rebuild a society despite the depredations of kamikaze cult members out to destroy them. The author makes you feel as if you are as much a part of the house as the characters who live there, I definitely have added a visit to my “bucket list”. The ending of show more the book brought to mind Darwin’s Radio by Greg Bear. show less

Good book. Damned good book. One of the best ones I've read in awhile. The way the author builds the post apocalyptic world makes you feel like you're there with the main character.

I love the way she described the world developing after the Vanishing ,and how people pulled together in different groups; some to help each other, and some hellbent on destroying the others.

The only reason I didn't give the book 5 stars is the predictability. Within the first 3 chapters you can pretty much see what's going to happen with a lot of the characters.

The ending isn't predictable, so that came as a complete surprise. I also love the fact that if the author chooses to do so, she can continue stories in this world by picking up side characters, or show more even going on with the main characters who can have future adventures. If you're into post apocalyptic stories that don't focus on a Dystopian future, pick up this book. Read it, then read it again to see the stuff you missed the first time through. show less

A really great 'post-apocalypse' novel, in a field of already rather brilliant novels. This one satisfied me as much as any of the better known ones (cf: The Stand, Earth Abides, Canticle for Leibowitz). A novel that is much better than the sum of its parts, if suffers at times from some woolly dialogue and too many minor characters, but Roessner brings everything together in a way that means the book succeeds extremely well. I wished it had gone a little more into the 'weirdness' hinted at, just enough to pry open the cracks we see a little more, but it was all more than intriguing enough to stick in the memory.