This was a pretty good story. It was a good change from what I normally read. It also definitely fits with the disaster that is now known as 2020. I highly recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

I'm (almost) out of words to adequately describe this fantastic book!

While the world is reduced by billions in just a short moment, Matthew is totally unaware of what's going on. Until he hears strange noises outside. Until he finds a body on his doorstep. Until a little girl named Ruby knocks on his door and forces Matthew to leave his comfort zone and go outside. And that's the beginning of a very unusual friendship.

While the end-of-the-world-scenario had its appeal (I'm just so glad there were no zombies around), it faded to background noise the moment Matthew and Ruby met. Ruby awakes Matthew from his convenient dormancy and leads him back into real life, even though it means being uncomfortable and in danger. It really broke my heart to see how much they cared for each other, encouraged and gave each other hope in an almost hopeless world. There was even a scene (the birthday) that brought me to tears, and that is something no other book accomplished so far. I don't 100% agree with the way Matthew and Ruby's journey ended, but that is based on my personal predilection for dark and tragic outcomes. Highest recommendation!

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I'm rating this quirky "End of Days" novel a 3.8 out of 5. An ancient virus, unleashed by global warming from its glacial vault. Only people with neurological conditions have been able to survive the deadly virus.
Ruby has a brain tumour, and Matthew is Autistic. A precocious child and a stuck in his ways senior band together to find Horizon, where they hope to find a cure to the deadly virus.
Along the way, they are taken by Jud, a madman, who has set up his own form of manic Utopia. Ruby has to resort to drastic measures to escape the asylum which was literally being run by the inmates. It was interesting that even in dystopian times, some survivors try to impose their own form of horrifying order. Those labels that the inmates wore in Jud's utopia were interesting.
I found it interesting that the meek once again appear to be "inheriting the earth." Everyone of able body and mind is gone, leaving only the physically and mentally sick. Quite ironic.
This story is set in Scarborough, which is a suburb of Toronto. (I live in the west end of Toronto - Etobicoke)
I loved how the survivors all ended up in the Muskokas - Ontario's prime back woods vacation destination has been taken over by the last humans on earth! Too funny!

I loved this poignant and engrossing novel, it made smile and it made me think.
I loved the great character development, the well crafted plot, and the amazing world building.
The writer is a talented storyteller and I hope to read other stories soon.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Debut author Lisa King has written a compelling and enjoyable novel that caught my interest from the beginning and kept me turning pages until the very end. Vanishing Hour is an apocalyptic tale that follows two very unlikely companions through the horrors of a major disaster that kills off most of the world’s human population. Matthew Werner is a seventy-year-old man who suffers from what he calls his Not Normal. He becomes almost catatonic when he is forced to be around people so he has pretty much barricaded himself in his home and tries to ignore the tragedy happening outside his home. That all changes when twelve-year-old Ruby Sterling shows up at his door. The two are wary of each other, but they must learn to work together if they are to survive and find their way to possible safety at a place called the Horizon.

It has been a while since I’ve read any novels from this genre, but I must say this one intrigued me. This is definitely a character driven story since the tale is mostly set around Matthew and Ruby, and what they must endure to survive. Both have to not only learn to trust and like the other, but they also have to overcome their own problems. For Matthew that is his Not Normal and for Ruby it is the fact that she is sick with a brain tumor. I especially enjoyed seeing Matthew’s character grow and adjust to this new and terrifying world. It was also uplifting to see the two main characters slowly grow to rely on each other. This growth turned what could have been only an apocalyptic horror story into an uplifting tale that ends with hope for the future, at least for these characters.

I can recommend this book to anyone who loves a good end of the world fantasy story. Ms. King shows great promise as an author, and I will be looking for more of her writing in the future.

I received an ARC at the author’s request through NetGalley and The Story Plant for an honest review.

Rainbow Reflections: http://rainbowreflections.home.com/

When I started this book, I thought it would be apocalyptic fiction. It turned out it is much more than that.

70 year old Matthew is "not normal." He finds the world overwhelming and prefers his simple routines. After a mysterious illness kills the majority of the population, he encounters 12 year old Ruby.

Both want to find missing loved ones and begin a journey to do so. The main theme is the relationship that develops between two disparate people.

It is a heartwarming book and I suggest taking the journey with Matthew and Ruby. .

I was given an advance copy of this book. I'm leaving my honest review.

Vanishing Hour, from author Lisa King, is a post apocalyptic novel, but far from what we usually expect from such of those.

Matthew Werner is a seventy years old grumpy man. He has some mental issues. Which mental issues ? No one has even been able to diagnose them. He’s not sociable. He’s the opposite of sociable. He doesn’t like people. They’re LOUD and unpredictable. He doesn’t like the modern world, computers and mobile phones. He doesn’t like young people, the entitled « me, mine, me, mine » generation, their heads always into their little computers. He’s the kind of old guy whose each sentence would begin with « In my days... » and end up with « ...get off my lawn ! »

He doesn’t have social anxiety. He has world anxiety, Hence, he seldom leaves his apartment, except on tuesdays, for a very difficult trip to the convenience store. He likes order, routine, predictability.

In spite of his condition, he has been married. But, after decades of bliss, his wife, afflicted with Alzheimer, went out and has never been found again. She’s presumed dead by the police, but he still waits for her come back.

Matthew is so recluse, that he barely notices the day the world crumbles down around him. Most people have just been wiped from the planet, in the span of a few hours, by a dormant virus.

Ruby is a sick twelve year old girl. On apocalypse day, her mother hid her in a shelf, asking her to wait for her return. She waited for a week then ventured out to an empty world, and on the porch of Matthew’s house.

Matthew doesn’t care for young people. He doesn’t know how to deal with people, lest alone young ones. He doesn’t understand feelings. However, Ruby manages to stir some of those into him. A bond, however unorthodox, has begun to form.

Ruby is Matthew’s opposite. In spite of her condition, she’s an extreme optimist. If there is once chance over a hundred that her father and Matthew’s wife might still be alive, she wants to believe in it and go search for them.

After some convincing, she embarks Matthew on a quest to do exactly that.

Vanishing Hour isn’t a standard apocalypse novel. Its strengths stem from the evolving relationship between Matthew and Ruby. The weaknesses of the one fueling the strengths of the other. It speaks about mental disease, and the unwarranted stigma affixed to them.

This is a book full of hope and optimism. And, it is uplifting. A trait rarely seen in apocalypse stories these days.

It’s not perfect, exactly. On the way, the author couldn’t help but to introduce a standard apocalypse novel trope the book surely could have done without. There was a message in it but, in spite of not being an author, I think the point could have been made another way.

Just after that less interesting chapter, though, the story goes back to its original and lovable premise. And, the epilogue proves more than satisfying.

It’s an unusual entry into the genre. Highly recommended. Especially if you need some mental relief between two seasons of The Walking Dead and its monsters (the humans, not the zombies). Humanity. This novel is full of it.

Thanks The Story Plant and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for this unbiased review.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

I am a big fan of the "man vs nature" genre and frequently that can diverge into end-of-the-world scenarios. I was excited to read this book - Vanishing Hour definitely falls within that category, but it's approached in a different way (I won't tell you how, I don't want to give it away!)

The main characters, Matthew and Ruby, are both interesting and quirky in their own way. They come together as strangers and come to depend on each other so earnestly that they couldn't help but care deeply for each other by the conclusion of the book. Matthew is a grumpy old coot (tho, I will say that I found his aversion to electronics occasionally annoying - but he's also described as unofficially being on the autism spectrum, so his quirks became more understandable) and Ruby is an optimistic young girl separated from her parents who finds herself on Matthew's doorstep.

The plot itself flows well and is easy to read. (This is my first review ever, so I'm not sure how much I'm supposed to say here - I don't want to give anything away.)

Overall, Vanishing Hour was a sweet buddy-comedy, set at the end of the world as we know it. Highly recommend!

#VanishingHour #NetGalley

I have struggled for a while with how and what to write in this review. It was a very well written novel that did a fantastic job with character development and world-building. It was suggested to me as a post-apocalyptic novel and, while this is true, it doesn't really ring the bell for me as being that genre. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what genre I would call it, though.

The two main characters, Matthew and Ruby, are as different from each other as two characters could be. Matthew is an old curmudgeon that constantly complains that the world is too loud. Ruby, on the other hand, is a young, outgoing, and very smart girl. Both characters grow individually and as friends to make a good team.

One thing that kept coming back to me with this was that it seemed to parallel the movie Up. An old man that has had a rough life, a child who is in a bad place that needs help, an unforgiving landscape, and a dog that has lines (even if they are only imagined).

I did like this book and now, after having some time to chew on it, I will probably go back and re-read it.

I want to thank Lisa King, Story Plant, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

Vanishing Hour, Lisa King's debut novel, is a terrific and peculiar story with two very different main character, Matthew and Ruby. Seventy years old Matthew suffers from something the doctor couldn't understand. Maybe autism, Asperger or social anxiety, he has difficulty to live in the world, he can't stand people and their loudness. He finds the world overwhelming, preferring to be at home and not outside, surrounded by other people.
He talks about the LOUDNESS, that is a "storm in his mind, when his thoughts becomes less accessible, his vision clouds over and then he suffers from pain and darkness, unable to move and think". (semi cit from the book). He prefers to avoid people, their phones (silly little computers), complaining about young people and old times and so on. Hi wife Tabitha suffered from Alzheimer and she was the only one who could understand him. Their love is absolutely great and moving, I loved reading about it. After she went missing, her locket was found into a burned down building and the police presumed her dead, Matthew lives alone, tinkering with objects, safe with his routine. One day, he went out for groceries and starts to see that everything is changed. There is not sound, people are missing and then, when he's safely at home, a crisis blows, forcing him to barricate himself in his house, away from people running, screaming and dying. Matthew would have loved to live alone in his house, away from people and loudness, not caring about what happened to the world, but when Ruby, a twelve years old, knocks at his door, he found himself with her.

Ruby, taken away from school and forced by her mother to hide into a shed (Matthew's), is a smart, talkative and cancer sick girl. After seeing her mother dead, she's conviced by a radio trasmission to look for the Horizon, a place where to find other survivors, hoping to find her father. Holding on her parents' memories, his father's notebook full of ideas and her stubborness, Ruby and Matthew started their long and difficult trip to search for the Horizon. In an apocalyptic world, full of bodies, vacant cities, crazy people and violence, Matthew and Ruby learn to trust and love each other, creating a friendship bond and travelling together. Looking for Matthew's wife, Tabitha and Ruby's father, their trip is full of twists, false hopes, adventures and intertwined with flashbacks and parts explaining the virus and the infection.

This book is very peculiar. It's a apocalyptic, thriller...a mix of genres, with two characters, so different from one other. Matthew's sickness was beautifully written and the reader could feel his pain, his difficulty to see and face other people, feel his love and longing for Tabitha and the love and affection for Ruby. It's a peculiar friendship and I love how they cared for each other, how almost right away Ruby saw in the headphones and tape mixer a way to soothe Matthew's nerves. This book is divided in three parts, but most of it shows Matthew and Ruby as, almost, exclusive characters. It was interesting reading about Center One and the society forcibly created by Jud and the brilliant move and plan created by Ruby. I loved reading how her friendship with Matthew grows and how him become slowly more confident, taking care of the girl and of himself and then of Jim. Matthew is really realistic and relatable and he and Ruby are well rounded characters, full of fears and thoughts and moved by their feelings, hopes, braving their changing and scary new world.

I really loved this book. It was hopeful, moving and sad and I've devoured it in less than a day, because I needed to know what would happen next.

The world was a blaring orchestra- one he was powerless to conduct.