I was excited about reading this book. The premise was promising and the introduction of the main characters was well depicted. I noticed almost immediately however, that Ms Jensen had decided to enthrall us with some of the most rarely used words in the English Thesaurus.  I found some phrases effective, delivering the occasional nice little punch, but too much became tiring and it certainly made the book a much harder read. What’s wrong with plain English I ask you?

We learn at the beginning of this story that paraplegic Art Therapist Gabrielle Fox is assigned the case of fifteen year old Bethany Krall; a matricidal, dangerous and disturbed young girl incarcerated in a mental institution. The immediate relationship between Fox and Krall is borderline sadistic as Gabrielle is nicknamed ‘Wheels,’ privately abused, bullied and used as a verbal punching bag by this freakishly weird girl, who I envisaged to be a direct cross between the vomit-spewing girl from The Exorcist and one of the spoilt teenage brats from The Disney Channel.

Since Gabrielle Fox is characterised as extremely pessismistic and seems to suffer a large degree of self-pity and depression post-car accident - ’I am no longer a whole woman,’ by example – one wonders why she would be handed this devil spawn to deal with at all?

Bethany begins to sketch global catastrophes, volcanic eruptions, floods and earthquakes pinpointing the exact dates of their occurence. Gabrielle is little more than curious initially, until the events actually happen. Up to this point the drama and pacing is exciting, but in my opinion after this the remainder of the plot starts to unravel.

Warning Plot Spoiler follows:

Shortly after being assigned her case, Gabrielle is invited at whim by her boss (who seems to treat her like last night’s regrettable shag) to a company dinner. He doesn’t escort her - or meet her there he merely suggests she should go, get out more and make some friends. Gabrielle, wallowing in self-celibate pity bites the bullet of self doubt and awkwardly turns up at the function in her wheelchair, where she is almost immediately pounced on by ‘The Physicist.’ There is an immediate attraction we are to believe, that for me seems far too contrived and convenient - since he is also connected to various scientific persons and pathways that might or might not explain the ‘weird Bethany predictions.’

My other gripe here is - would you really leave a safe environment in a wheelchair with an absolute stranger? To bond over some curry and poppadoms down at the chippy? Ironically our heroine does. Her new love match Frazer Melville is thereafter referred to by his full name throughout the book or simply as ’The Physicist.’

As the story continues in this slightly shaky vein it then begins to snake tentatively around various concurrent plot threads which I find hard to believe.

After their strange coupling and a few visits to Bethany, the physicist is on some new secret scientific mission, (we assume.) He suddenly announces he’s leaving for a ‘field trip’ no questions asked, and will contact Gabrielle ‘soon.’ But the new ‘I-can-still-have-sex’ obsessed Gabrielle suddenly can’t live without her new lover and drives over to his place late at night to witness him (from her car window) chatting happily to a vertical blonde in his living room. She then returns home to chastise herself for falling for him.

Next the extremely dangerous patient Bethany is suddenly ‘kidnapped’ from the institution just days after being assessed as ‘extremely mentally ill’  (so really, how does that happen?) and the physicist is also gone. Gabrielle loses her job and is forced to sit at home alternately pondering whether the physicist is the kidnapper whilst licking her own wounds. 

Whilst moping over her losses she receives a random and indecipherable message on a piece of paper which prompts her to jump into another strangers car (ah yes, another clueless scientist) and is driven to a secret farmhouse. There she is re-united with her estranged lover (with whom she is now at odds over her belief that he slept with the leggy blonde who also happens to be there) and all three are included in some transparent and unexplained plan of action.

Gabrielle seems to have no idea why she was left out of the kidnapping plan or driven to this secret location, however once there, she is quite happy to get comfy on the couch, drink mugs of coffee and throw filthy looks at her cheating lover, whilst the leggy blonde scientist runs around on her mobile trying to convince some famous eco-religious guru that they have ‘proof’ the world is going to end. Bethany simply sits on the couch opposite Gabrielle and continues to spew foul expletives at her.

Seriously, would a couple of dates with a bloke and his possible philandering trouble you all that much if you were now a wanted criminal, an unhinged therapist on the run? Locked in a secret location without the use of your legs and sitting beside an unguarded, kidnapped killer-crazed teenager? AND faced with the distinct possibility that the world was about to end? This is where the story dived into its abyss for me.

And it gets more bizarre.

A ‘barred’ anaesthetist arrives unannounced at this ‘hideout’ to zap Bethany with some volts in the form of ECT (which helps her to have her world-ending visions!) but he fails, exits sharpish, and leaves Bethany and Gabrielle to try a spot of DIY with the electrodes. The girl almost-pops her clogs, but doesn’t. Sadly.

Meanwhile behind this implausible storyline, the rest of the world is trying to make up its mind whether the apocalypse is about to happen - or not.

Throughout the last quarter of the story I wasn’t quite sure what any of the main characters motives were. Bethany just seemed to want to stick her fingers into wall sockets and act like a possessed nazi troll toward her superiors. Gabrielle sits pining for her new man, whilst his mind is where exactly? I don’t know. And the world is about to end er… tomorrow.

Finally, The Physicist and Gabrielle make amends after he tells her he didn’t sleep with his gorgeous blonde co-scientist - (oh you daft gullible cow!) But the privilege of sitting and lamenting about her love life, or lack thereof, takes a sudden backseat as they face the end of days, or The Rapture.

Gabrielle, The Physicist and crazed Bethany jump in a car and (whilst being the the most WANTED threesome in the country,) head nowhere in particular. They get caught up in a population surge drifting towards a stadium whether Bethany is reunited with her abusive bible-obsessed father for the coming of The Rapture! 

By this point I am lost and struggling to comprehend any of the motives of anyone involved as well as where the storyline is going. I continue reading only in the hope of a decent ending. None came and I felt a little cheated and disappointed.

Concluding my review, I thought the pitch was absolutely great and the book started off as a very engaging read with a great plot.  It could have veered into a very good psychological thriller but instead this story for me, couldn’t seem to distinguish whether its main theme was eco-environmental, psychological, religious or scientific. 

I recommend the read because I do think there are other readers out there that will enjoy it and have done. Some of the writing style is quite fresh and engaging. For story value however, I have to rate it a disappointing 4/10.

Available at Amazon.com