Review of THE SPACE BETWEEN US by Doug Johnstone (New Release)

 3.5 Stars

Being familiar with Johnstone’s Skelfs crime fiction series, I was intrigued to learn he’s ventured into the science fiction genre.  Actually, this book is first-contact science fiction with elements of a thriller and a drama. 

The protagonists are three troubled souls.  There’s 16-year-old Lennox Hunt who lives in a children’s home and is often bullied because of his mixed race.  Heavily pregnant Ava Cross is trying to escape her psychologically controlling husband.  And Heather Banks, a grieving mother with a terminal cancer diagnosis, sees suicide as her best option.  After the appearance of a blue-green light that streaks across the sky, the three suffer catastrophic strokes, but unlike many others, they miraculously recover.  Instinctively they realize that there is a connection between what happened to them and a mysterious cephalopod which is found washed up on a nearby beach.  When they seek out this unusual creature (whom Lennox names Sandy and always speaks of in the plural), they work together to protect them from shadowy government agents while attempting to reunite them with the rest of their species. 

The novel employs a multiple point of view structure.  The perspectives of Lennox, Ava, and Heather are given in alternating chapters.  A fourth viewpoint is that of Ewan McKinnon, a jaded journalist who begins by following the story and ends up supporting their endeavours. 

The book is fast-paced with a lot of suspense.  The fugitives are constantly in danger:  not only are they involved in a cat-and-mouse chase, evading the police and the sinister government agents, they are also being tracked by Michael, Ava’s abusive and well-connected husband.  This tension, along with the short chapters, keeps the reader engaged. 

The premise is certainly not new.  Initially I kept mentally comparing the novel to E.T. the Extraterrestrial and any number of other first-contact films.  But the book also examines some serious issues like bullying, grieving, and gaslighting.  In many ways, the novel struck me as a plea for people to be more open, to accept and connect with others.  At the beginning, Lennox, Ava, and Heather feel alone in the world.  Then they form a type of surrogate family linked by a common purpose.  When they connect with Sandy, they realize they are no longer isolated and separate but “three parts of something much bigger.”

The limitations of humans are delineated.   Lennox realizes that “none of them had a clue about life, the way the universe worked.  There was so much mysterious, incomprehensible shit out there making a mockery of their pathetic concerns, their wee lives.”  Heather concurs:  “The human view of earth was so myopic it was virtually blind. . . . Humans were nothing in the scheme of things.”  She gives a lot of thought to how little we know about life on earth because of our inability to communicate:  “She wondered about other forms of communication, the buzzard above, the sparrows in the trees, worms in the earth.”  Perhaps “the human idea of being singular, apart, alone, was a ridiculous and lonely way of looking at life.”  Isn’t “the point of humanity, a search for empathy, putting yourself in someone else’s shoes” so we can close the space between us?

As I read, I also couldn’t stop thinking that the book is, whether intentionally or incidentally, a commentary on the refugee crisis.  Sandy is really a refugee who washes up on a shore.  They and others of their species are looking for a safe haven.  Like Sandy, migrants are sometimes viewed as having a worldview that is “completely alien” and are often not warmly welcomed. 

I found the villains to be two-dimensional with no redeeming qualities, and there are some coincidences, so some suspension of disbelief is necessary.  And, certainly this book is not for those who like hard science speculative fiction because parts are “frustratingly vague.”  Nonetheless, I enjoyed the read; I guess I was just in the mood for a caper across the Scottish Highlands with an occasional conversation with an octopus-like alien – though the book, I think, is more about human beings than it is about aliens. 

Readers should be forewarned that the ending is abrupt and open-ended.  But I gather that this is actually the first of the Enceladons Trilogy.  The second book, The Collapsing Wave, is expected next year.  I will definitely be picking it up.

Note:  I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.