The Vanishing Hour
Black Mirror meets In the Woods in this literary suspense novel about a pregnant woman who erased her memory of the baby’s father. When two men walk into her life, she suspects they both know more than they’re letting on, but will she figure it out before the situation gets dangerous?
The Vanishing Hour is my first novel. I completed it at age twenty-one after graduating college as an English Literature major. Because of that timing, the book has many thematic similarities to works by some of my favorites, such as the Bronte sisters and Mary Shelley.
Praise
“A fun and exuberant whodunnit with a clever updating of Philip K. Dick-ian ideas and the engine of a smart mystery novel.”
—Augustus Rose, author of The Readymade Thief
“The Vanishing Hour is a captivating mix of Gone Girl, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Kurt Vonnegut’s science fiction; it’s complex conceptually and loaded with literary allusions. Memory technology seems to be a simple, beneficial tool used to eliminate mental anguish, particularly for crime victims or those suffering with PTSD. But what if the tool is used to escape feelings of guilt, or is used to create a deceitful second chance? The Vanishing Hour explores how memories affect our choices and thereby our futures– even if we don’t have them anymore. A page-turner for sure, but long after finishing the book, readers will be pondering, “What if?”
—Beth Sallmann Zender