Liz Jensen
The Rapture
Bloomsbury (UK: 1st June 2009); Allen & Unwin Bloomsbury (AU: July 2009) Random House Doubleday (US & CA: 11th August 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Art therapist Gabrielle Fox is facing her toughest client yet. Sixteen-year-old Bethany Krall may have murdered her mother, but there’s something stranger in her brain – the seeming ability to predict natural disasters.
Literary more than any other genre, this was at first a difficult read. The style is different to what I’m used to, and the pacing is way too slow. I struggled so much that I started flick-reading, skipping over the bits that didn’t capture me. But once the event in Rio occurred, I no longer skipped anything.
The science is amazing, and plays a major part in The Rapture’s brilliance. Downplaying the paranormal makes the more realistic stuff more engrossing. The characters are all shades of grey, the impending rapture is terrifying mostly because it’s so believable, and the religious aspects…Well, I’m not sure if religion is the problem, but rather those who choose to interpret and believe it in deadly ways. It’s no mystery that those people made Bethany the person she is.
The psychological complexities of both Bethany and Gabrielle leave quite an impression. Don’t be surprised if the word volts makes you uneasy after reading…
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