Via the robot wisdom weblog comes this list of the 50 best film adaptations of books. Near the top [number 3 in fact, although I'm not sure if they are listed in any particular order] is Tim Krabbe's book The Vanishing. Tim's name will be familiar to chess fans as Tim hosts the always excellent Open Chess Diary. Right now Tim has a wonderful little story about Max Euwe and autograph collecting.

I read The Vanishing a couple of years ago and recall that it was a wicked good read. I had no idea it had been adapted to the screen but, from what I remember of the book, I can understand how it would make a great edge-of-your-seat thriller of movie. I'll have to have a prowl around the local video store this weekend. Here's the IMDb entry with a link to the trailer.

I'm sure they were refering to the excellent European film Spoorloos (1988) and not the terrible American adaptation. You can read about the former here:
http://www.moria.co.nz/horror/vanishing.htm

It has been many years since I saw the Dutch version, but I remember most the way it humanizes the creepy killer and gives us a lot from his perspective. American films rarely do that. Also, I only caught portions of the American version on cable, but I heard that it has a happy ending.... Unless you side with the killer, the European version decidedly does not.