Vanishing Point

by Michaela Roessner

Book Overview

It happened one night, without warning: 90% of the human race disappeared without a trace. There were no bodies and no clue as to where they went or whether they would ever return. After years of violence spawned by fear and rage, an uneasy peace is restored. But fanatics still rove the land, trying to discover what caused the Vanishing.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812516729
• ISBN13: 9780812516722
• Release Date: November 1994
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Excellent science-fiction novel

I agree with most of the criticisms leveled against this book by other reviewers, but I enjoyed it immensely despite its faults. The novel is set in the future, 29 years after 90% of the population has vanished. As one reader pointed out, that would leave thirty million Americans, but Roessner illogically describes a country that is largely uninhabited and that is ruled by competing cults. That, however, is a detail. On a much more important level, Roessner gradually lets us know that some fundamental laws of nature have changed, and that the disappearance of most of the population is not the only problem facing humanity. The children born into this new world are much more adapted to it than are the adults, and they have abilities not shared by their elders. The real appeal of the story seems to me to be the contrast between the adults and the children who were born after the Vanishing, and in the dreamlike quality of the author's descriptions of this new world. "Vanishing Point" is an easy novel to criticize, but it is not easy to forget, and I for one found it to be very intelligently conceived and highly entertaining.

Riveting Sense of Place

There is one reason I return to this book time and time again: The descriptions of the old house. The characters are decent, and the plot is pretty good, although a tad predictable, but that HOUSE. The way they've built that house out and out and out intrigues me to this day. Also, the way the children are able to slide to other possible realities is interesting...But not particularly in the way Roessner portrays it. I think it's because there are specific areas of the house that some of its inhabitants are incapable of penetrating. Also, the way the house functions like a city is interesting too. It is remarkably self-contained. I could speak about that house in pages, and the fact that I am still revisiting it years later proves that it was one part of the book that was working particularly well.

Thought provoking and haunting.

A somewhat noir SciFi (not fantasy) novel set in and around the San Francisco Bay Area, mostly in San Jose, with its epicenter at the real-life Winchester Mystery House. The different cults which spring up to explain the inexplicable Vanishing of 90% of the Earth's population are realistically envisioned and fleshed out, appealingly and even repellingly so, in some cases. The ending scenes leave one emotionally wrung out and wishing desperately (during a second and third re-reading!) one could CHANGE THINGS so that x,y,z didn't happen... that's how involved the reader becomes with the characters. An outstanding first novel, with only one or two rough spots. I WANT A SEQUEL!!!! Highest recommendation!! :)

Vanishing Point

The book is very captivating and full of vivid images of people and places. A book that you will surely read for start to finish!

A fun read

I found the plot to be riveting. It's been years since I've read this book and I still find myself thinking about it once in awhile. The characters are well developed but I didn't care for the ending.