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Nemo and Co. #1
The Vanishing Office
A dystopian story of secrets, misinformation and a murderous robot, "The Vanishing Office", is the first techno thriller by indie dystopian writer J.E. Clarkson. Stuck in a rut, a young woman accepts a cleaning job working for an elusive urban information storage company. Well paid and working few hours, the job seems too good to be true. Soon she finds herself caught up in a web of lies and deception, party to dangerous information and a conspiracy of secrets that could threaten her health, her mind, even her very life. How will she escape? Things will never be the same after entering, "The Vanishing Office."
263 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 19, 2021
8 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
About the author
J.E. Clarkson
13 books27 followersJ.E. Clarkson lives on the Yorkshire coast, with her partner Anton. Before becoming an author of dystopian thrillers, she's turned her hand to a number of things working in retail, special education and make-up artistry. A true crime obsessive, she gained her Bachelor of Science in Criminology at The University of Teesside. When she isn't writing she loves refashioning, singing, watching old films and hanging out with her family and friends.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 21, 2022
*3.5 stars*
How does someone employed as an office cleaner, end up as an undercover agent on a very high salary, in a very short space of time? Well if you read The Vanishing Office you’ll find out.
Too good to be true? Of course it is. A dystopian thriller that focuses on an unnamed narrator, who unwittingly becomes involved in a resistance movement that has some very weird and dangerous members.
The Vanishing Office presents a bleak and menacing future, where the daily life of employees, is manipulated by a company boss who communicates only by text. Some very tense moments, and definitely Orwellian in its style.
How does someone employed as an office cleaner, end up as an undercover agent on a very high salary, in a very short space of time? Well if you read The Vanishing Office you’ll find out.
Too good to be true? Of course it is. A dystopian thriller that focuses on an unnamed narrator, who unwittingly becomes involved in a resistance movement that has some very weird and dangerous members.
The Vanishing Office presents a bleak and menacing future, where the daily life of employees, is manipulated by a company boss who communicates only by text. Some very tense moments, and definitely Orwellian in its style.
January 23, 2022
This is the second book I’ve read by Clarkson. The first was The Lamb, a murder mystery. While The Vanishing Office, a dystopian thriller, is quite different from The Lamb in terms of genre, subject matter, and tone, Clarkson’s distinctive voice and intriguing writing style are still very much present.
In The Vanishing Office, an unnamed female protagonist is hired as a cleaner for Nemo and Company, where she receives assignments by text, doesn’t know any of her co-workers, and her work is shrouded in secrecy for unclear reasons.
I thought I would hate the concept of a story being told from the point of view of a nameless lead character, but it actually worked really well. It forces the reader to almost assume the identity of The Cleaner and feel her emotions as she tries to understand what is happening around her and decipher what is real and what isn’t. The reader could really feel her struggle and relate to her realization that “sometimes it’s a good idea not to argue too hard with them. As long as you know what’s going on in your head, that’s all that matters.”
One of the scariest elements of the book is that, with a society that revolves around alternate facts and an isolating, impersonal work environment, there are points where it is easy to forget it is supposed to be dystopian.
The one drawback to the book is that there are a few typos and formatting issues. Personally, I didn't think these took away from the reading experience or the overall message. I definitely plan to read the next installment in the Nemo & Co series.
For more reviews, visit my blog, www.bookpicksandpics.com.
In The Vanishing Office, an unnamed female protagonist is hired as a cleaner for Nemo and Company, where she receives assignments by text, doesn’t know any of her co-workers, and her work is shrouded in secrecy for unclear reasons.
I thought I would hate the concept of a story being told from the point of view of a nameless lead character, but it actually worked really well. It forces the reader to almost assume the identity of The Cleaner and feel her emotions as she tries to understand what is happening around her and decipher what is real and what isn’t. The reader could really feel her struggle and relate to her realization that “sometimes it’s a good idea not to argue too hard with them. As long as you know what’s going on in your head, that’s all that matters.”
One of the scariest elements of the book is that, with a society that revolves around alternate facts and an isolating, impersonal work environment, there are points where it is easy to forget it is supposed to be dystopian.
The one drawback to the book is that there are a few typos and formatting issues. Personally, I didn't think these took away from the reading experience or the overall message. I definitely plan to read the next installment in the Nemo & Co series.
For more reviews, visit my blog, www.bookpicksandpics.com.
November 1, 2022
I wasn't sure what to expect from this but it really was good. it took me a while to get used to the narration but all in all hooked and now onto book 2.
don't want to say more due to spoilers but never read a book without knowing the name of the protagonist
don't want to say more due to spoilers but never read a book without knowing the name of the protagonist
January 26, 2022
I received a free review copy of this audio book, at my request, and am voluntarily leaving this unbiased review.
This is the type of story I really enjoy. There is a mystery that has to be solved, and it's nothing to do with a murder (well, not exactly). Our main character starts working for a company with weird requirements. Is the company evil? Are the people who are telling her the company is evil to be trusted? Who can one trust? Is the main character having a mental breakdown?
I loved the layers to the story. The misdirection and gas lighting were great. The fact that I felt as if I only had a loose grasp on what was happening, helped me identify with the main character and kept me engaged in the story. A mystery is something that must be solved.
However, the main character, herself, was not all that relatable. She is sparsely written, with almost no back story, no physical presence or description. She has no real motivation beyond her immediate situation. And is too much of a blank slate. I've seen this suggested that this is for the reader to project themselves onto the character. However, as I couldn't see myself in similar situations or having similar reactions, I was unable to project myself into the story.
Similarly, the secondary characters are all completely flat. They either tell the truth or lie, but have no depth beyond these black and white characters traits. Characters are given only informational backgrounds, and there is little in the way of emotional character depth to any of them.
The settings are all familiar type places. There is little world building, and the reader is meant to fill in the gaps with things they already know. Apartment building, city streets, office building, hospital, etc.
The POV is first person, past tense. I mention this because the main character is telling us a story of something she remembers from her PAST. This doesn't seem significant, until we get to the part of the story, where the main character is having trouble remembering people, places, if things were real, etc. Now, it could be argued, that at some point in the future she remembers everything and is telling the story of when she couldn't. However, personally, I would have preferred a third person POV, where things could be a little more clean.
There is also a lot of fill added to the story, mainly in the forms of dreams. There are at least 3 or 4 dream chapters. Something weird/bad will happen during the main character's day, then she dreams about it, in detail, for like a chapter. It doesn't give the reader more information. It doesn't help the main character decide things or get fresh insight. Something odd happens in the story, the main character dreams something worse, and then the next day goes about her business. The time would have been better spent establishing the main character in her world. Calling her parents, talking to a different friend, going on a date, watching a movie, anything to show she actually lived in the world she was in.
The narrator, Elah Khorasani, was fairly good. She had a decent range of voices and did passable (if a little cliché) male voices. Her main voice was a little too innocent, but overall she did a good job. Audio quality, was kind of off, though. For a lot of it, it sounded like it was recorded in a bathroom. That kind of hollow sound that makes the recording sound wrong. I got used to it overtime, but it was very noticeable in the beginning.
All in all, this was a good book and I enjoyed listening to it. It has a good mystery at the center of it and that always hooks me. The characters and world building need work, in my opinion, to make this a better story and to make the struggle more relatable. The voice acting is done well, but the sound quality is a bit off.
Overall, I recommend this book. However, because my main interest was the mystery at the heart of this book, and it is seemingly resolved by the end, I do not think I will continue this series.
This is the type of story I really enjoy. There is a mystery that has to be solved, and it's nothing to do with a murder (well, not exactly). Our main character starts working for a company with weird requirements. Is the company evil? Are the people who are telling her the company is evil to be trusted? Who can one trust? Is the main character having a mental breakdown?
I loved the layers to the story. The misdirection and gas lighting were great. The fact that I felt as if I only had a loose grasp on what was happening, helped me identify with the main character and kept me engaged in the story. A mystery is something that must be solved.
However, the main character, herself, was not all that relatable. She is sparsely written, with almost no back story, no physical presence or description. She has no real motivation beyond her immediate situation. And is too much of a blank slate. I've seen this suggested that this is for the reader to project themselves onto the character. However, as I couldn't see myself in similar situations or having similar reactions, I was unable to project myself into the story.
Similarly, the secondary characters are all completely flat. They either tell the truth or lie, but have no depth beyond these black and white characters traits. Characters are given only informational backgrounds, and there is little in the way of emotional character depth to any of them.
The settings are all familiar type places. There is little world building, and the reader is meant to fill in the gaps with things they already know. Apartment building, city streets, office building, hospital, etc.
The POV is first person, past tense. I mention this because the main character is telling us a story of something she remembers from her PAST. This doesn't seem significant, until we get to the part of the story, where the main character is having trouble remembering people, places, if things were real, etc. Now, it could be argued, that at some point in the future she remembers everything and is telling the story of when she couldn't. However, personally, I would have preferred a third person POV, where things could be a little more clean.
There is also a lot of fill added to the story, mainly in the forms of dreams. There are at least 3 or 4 dream chapters. Something weird/bad will happen during the main character's day, then she dreams about it, in detail, for like a chapter. It doesn't give the reader more information. It doesn't help the main character decide things or get fresh insight. Something odd happens in the story, the main character dreams something worse, and then the next day goes about her business. The time would have been better spent establishing the main character in her world. Calling her parents, talking to a different friend, going on a date, watching a movie, anything to show she actually lived in the world she was in.
The narrator, Elah Khorasani, was fairly good. She had a decent range of voices and did passable (if a little cliché) male voices. Her main voice was a little too innocent, but overall she did a good job. Audio quality, was kind of off, though. For a lot of it, it sounded like it was recorded in a bathroom. That kind of hollow sound that makes the recording sound wrong. I got used to it overtime, but it was very noticeable in the beginning.
All in all, this was a good book and I enjoyed listening to it. It has a good mystery at the center of it and that always hooks me. The characters and world building need work, in my opinion, to make this a better story and to make the struggle more relatable. The voice acting is done well, but the sound quality is a bit off.
Overall, I recommend this book. However, because my main interest was the mystery at the heart of this book, and it is seemingly resolved by the end, I do not think I will continue this series.
December 27, 2022
A Dystopian Thriller where nothing is as it seems.
From the eerie no named narrator, an office run essentially by AI, and the vague ominous work that office does, this novel ratchets up the tension from page one and doesn’t stop! Clarkson does a great job setting the tone and keeping the intensity on high throughout the novel. This is a true thriller in every sense of the word.
There is plenty of gaslighting, misdirection, and high stakes leaving readers questioning everything they read just like the first-person narrator in real time. This book reminded me of the show Dispatches from Elsewhere because nothing is as it seems. Clarkson does a great job world building this dystopian future that scarily doesn’t feel too far off from present day. The story moves quickly and has a good ending while setting up perfectly for book two in this new world!
From the eerie no named narrator, an office run essentially by AI, and the vague ominous work that office does, this novel ratchets up the tension from page one and doesn’t stop! Clarkson does a great job setting the tone and keeping the intensity on high throughout the novel. This is a true thriller in every sense of the word.
There is plenty of gaslighting, misdirection, and high stakes leaving readers questioning everything they read just like the first-person narrator in real time. This book reminded me of the show Dispatches from Elsewhere because nothing is as it seems. Clarkson does a great job world building this dystopian future that scarily doesn’t feel too far off from present day. The story moves quickly and has a good ending while setting up perfectly for book two in this new world!
November 8, 2022
This was a very intriguing story. Lies within lies so you’re always wondering what’s the truth as the main character does.
The intricate lies and conspiracies make for a great story. A little scary that this could possibly happen in real life, or maybe it already is. I will be ready the next installment for sure.
The intricate lies and conspiracies make for a great story. A little scary that this could possibly happen in real life, or maybe it already is. I will be ready the next installment for sure.
September 8, 2022
Different but good
Not usually my type of book but the style of writing had me hooked from page 1. It was just a very good read
Not usually my type of book but the style of writing had me hooked from page 1. It was just a very good read
July 5, 2021
“The Vanishing Office” is a “techno thriller” that follows an unnamed narrator who takes a strangely well-paid cleaning job at Nemo & Co. and almost immediately finds that the job is a lot more than she bargained for. Soon, strange events happen around her; her boss, Stella, only communicates with her through text messages and sends her all sorts of weird questions and requests, she is constantly spotting odd people following or watching her, and a number of violent news reports that make her think this mysterious company may have a wider reach than she first thought.
We don’t really learn a lot about the main protagonist but, despite never learning her name, this blank slate approach actually works quite well to place the reader in the cleaner’s shoes as she asked a lot of the same questions I had an was surprisingly adaptable considering she is (by her own admission) not the smartest or capable person. Very quickly, the cleaning lady gets caught up in a resistance movement, meets a number of shady individuals, soon ends up suffering from the effects of drugs, bizarre nightmares, and all kinds of different machinations that seek to manipulate her previously dull life.
Reading “The Vanishing Office” reminded me a great deal of the works Philip K. Dick. While the book isn’t about a gritty, lived-in future populated by androids or trips to Mars or precognition, the author definitely (by coincidence, design, or virtue of me not being especially well-read) seems to have captured a lot of the spirit of Dick’s work. The world presented is sparsely described and somewhat bleak and doesn’t seem too far removed from outs; eventually, the story takes a turn into more grandiose sci-fi concepts and these are introduced slowly and with a commendable amount of menace and/or mystery.
I really enjoyed these aspects of “The Vanishing Office” as it kept me guessing and learning alongside the narrator and even the expository parts benefit the overall feeling of paranoia that starts to seep into the narrator. Overall, there was a lot to like about The Vanishing Office, which has an open-ended conclusion that I look forward to resolving when I get around to reading the next two books.
We don’t really learn a lot about the main protagonist but, despite never learning her name, this blank slate approach actually works quite well to place the reader in the cleaner’s shoes as she asked a lot of the same questions I had an was surprisingly adaptable considering she is (by her own admission) not the smartest or capable person. Very quickly, the cleaning lady gets caught up in a resistance movement, meets a number of shady individuals, soon ends up suffering from the effects of drugs, bizarre nightmares, and all kinds of different machinations that seek to manipulate her previously dull life.
Reading “The Vanishing Office” reminded me a great deal of the works Philip K. Dick. While the book isn’t about a gritty, lived-in future populated by androids or trips to Mars or precognition, the author definitely (by coincidence, design, or virtue of me not being especially well-read) seems to have captured a lot of the spirit of Dick’s work. The world presented is sparsely described and somewhat bleak and doesn’t seem too far removed from outs; eventually, the story takes a turn into more grandiose sci-fi concepts and these are introduced slowly and with a commendable amount of menace and/or mystery.
I really enjoyed these aspects of “The Vanishing Office” as it kept me guessing and learning alongside the narrator and even the expository parts benefit the overall feeling of paranoia that starts to seep into the narrator. Overall, there was a lot to like about The Vanishing Office, which has an open-ended conclusion that I look forward to resolving when I get around to reading the next two books.
November 21, 2021
"Every lie was a story, but was every story a lie?"
That is just one of the many questions that J.E. Clarkson has us ponder in The Vanishing Office. In this dystopian thriller, the answers are unsettling.
The story focuses on our nameless protagonist who quickly finds a job in an office that is too good to be true. And like many things, that does indeed turn out to be the case. In this office we soon find out that "it was not possible to work there if you were ever even slightly bothered by the drip, drip, drip of your conscience. That was fatal. Often metaphorically, sometimes literally."
The decision to keep the protagonist unnamed underscores the anonymity of the citizens of this future dystopian society. Time and again we see this play out in the book. Many are known only be their occupation (The Cleaner, The Taxi Driver).
One of the things that stood out for me in this book were the multiple layers of intrigue. Like shifting sands the reader is kept off balance throughout out most of the book. What we thought we knew, quite often turns out to be a fleeting chimera that soon disappears to be replaced by a new reality. Friends become adversaries, or do they?
I was also struck by how The Vanishing Office is, in some ways, a metaphor for the world we live in today. In an age of alternate facts and fact checkers, it is not too hard to believe that an office like this truly exists.
Although this book could have used a little more polishing, I was absolutely enthralled by the story. So much so I quickly read the second book in the installment of the series and will soon start on the third!
That is just one of the many questions that J.E. Clarkson has us ponder in The Vanishing Office. In this dystopian thriller, the answers are unsettling.
The story focuses on our nameless protagonist who quickly finds a job in an office that is too good to be true. And like many things, that does indeed turn out to be the case. In this office we soon find out that "it was not possible to work there if you were ever even slightly bothered by the drip, drip, drip of your conscience. That was fatal. Often metaphorically, sometimes literally."
The decision to keep the protagonist unnamed underscores the anonymity of the citizens of this future dystopian society. Time and again we see this play out in the book. Many are known only be their occupation (The Cleaner, The Taxi Driver).
One of the things that stood out for me in this book were the multiple layers of intrigue. Like shifting sands the reader is kept off balance throughout out most of the book. What we thought we knew, quite often turns out to be a fleeting chimera that soon disappears to be replaced by a new reality. Friends become adversaries, or do they?
I was also struck by how The Vanishing Office is, in some ways, a metaphor for the world we live in today. In an age of alternate facts and fact checkers, it is not too hard to believe that an office like this truly exists.
Although this book could have used a little more polishing, I was absolutely enthralled by the story. So much so I quickly read the second book in the installment of the series and will soon start on the third!
March 17, 2021
A great dystopian thriller with great characters. I loved it!
April 4, 2025
As a fan of the author’s previous works and a lover of dystopian fiction, I was immediately drawn into this story. The book takes off at a relentless pace, throwing the reader into a world that has changed drastically and unnervingly fast.
The FMC is thrust into a new reality filled with lies, deception, and uncertainty. Trust is a luxury in this world—I didn’t trust anyone, and honestly, I still don’t. The tension and suspense kept me hooked, making it impossible to put the book down.
This story left me craving more. I need answers, and I can’t wait to continue the rest of the series!
The FMC is thrust into a new reality filled with lies, deception, and uncertainty. Trust is a luxury in this world—I didn’t trust anyone, and honestly, I still don’t. The tension and suspense kept me hooked, making it impossible to put the book down.
This story left me craving more. I need answers, and I can’t wait to continue the rest of the series!
December 17, 2022
Ripped out of today's headlines!
Take the last 2 years with the corona virus and then throw in selective news reporting. News that is written just to match what one group wants. Oh, by the way they have access to all your electronic records and will rewrite your life to match their rules. Gripping tale, where figuring out who are the good guys and who are bad is equally baffling. Enjoy yourself.
Take the last 2 years with the corona virus and then throw in selective news reporting. News that is written just to match what one group wants. Oh, by the way they have access to all your electronic records and will rewrite your life to match their rules. Gripping tale, where figuring out who are the good guys and who are bad is equally baffling. Enjoy yourself.
March 4, 2025
EOTWAWKI. 52 chapters. Unclear as to reality. Borrowed with Kindle Unlimited. Is it your mind going or is it just a mindless story? Read Kindle book using Alexa audio asset.
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June 14, 2025DNF
July 19, 2023
I tried to give this book a chance. I don’t mind the premise, but there were so many spelling and grammatical errors that I stopped reading.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews