�THE VANISHING� -
by TIM KRABBE
It just goes to show. Novels don�t have to be long to wield impact. With just 115 brief pages of large print to its name, �The Vanishing� truly is a must-read, and since being first published in 1984 (initially just in Holland) it has been famously adapted into the US movie of the same name starring �24�-superstar Kiefer Sutherland and Nancy Travis.
To cut a short story even shorter, it�s about two young lovers - Rex Hofman and Saskia Ehlvest - taking a road trip. Stopping off for refreshments at a gas station en route one minute, the next the girl is missing: inexplicably vanished without any trace whatsoever, which is all the more disturbing for boyfriend Rex.
Cleverly, the story is told from three different angles, in a cool style that�s more recently been adopted by Douglas Coupland for his �Hey, Nostradamus!� masterpiece. The first part concentrates on the circumstances around the actual disappearance, before the story � at first confusingly � shifts forward 8 years and catches up with Rex and his new girlfriend: Rex still haunted by Saskia�s mysterious disappearance. Then we get �treated� to the kidnapper Lemorne�s story and his motivation for Saskia�s seemingly senseless kidnapping, as the kidnapper actually guides us through what he did and why he did it with graphically procedural verve.
Put it this way, if any reader�s have previously contemplated carrying out a similar stunt on a random innocent person, �The Vanishing� can often read like a DIY guide to the perfect kidnapping. In that respect, you�re left to wonder how the hell author Tim Krabbe knows so much about kidnap technique, suggesting he�s either done it all before for himself, or � as I�m hoping � he did an unparalleled amount of research for this book.
Delving deep into the disturbed mind of kidnapper Lemorne, he realised he needed to appear as vulnerable and helpless as possible in order to lure potential victims. Hence, �at a pharmacy, he bought a sling.� To imitate an injured man, �in the dark vaults of a parking garage he tied it around his neck and wore it out onto the street. He had an erection, he felt kingly, as in the first tingling of intoxication on good wine.� Prior to him kidnapping Saskia however, Lemorne first unleashed evidence of his evil potential on two innocent campers. (�He chose one of the boys to be first, and shot him dead. He�d wanted to kill the other one immediately too, but the slow way the boy�s lower lip sagged away from his wispy moustache dumbfounded him, and it took a few seconds before he fired again'). The bastard.
Coincidentally similar to Harlan Coben�s dark thriller �Tell No-one,� that novel too is just as exhilaratingly gruelling a story in which the lead character�s beloved wife is kidnapped, and eight years down the line evidence that she�s actually still alive begins to torment the living daylights out of the poor man.
The abrupt way in which �The Vanishing� ends though is far, far shocking � and I�ll warn you now, it�s a far from happy conclusion, but a brilliantly executed one all the same�
(Steve Rudd)
ISBN 0-7475-6533-3
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