On my blog today, I’m delighted to be taking part in the blog tour for the new novel by Doug Johnstone, The Collapsing Wave. With thanks to Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part.
BLURB
Six months since the earth-shattering events of The Space Between Us, the revelatory hope of the aliens’ visit has turned to dust and the creatures have disappeared into the water off Scotland’s west coast.
Teenager Lennox and grieving mother Heather are being held in New Broom, a makeshift US military base, the subject of experiments, alongside the Enceladons who have been captured by the authorities.
Ava, who has given birth, is awaiting the jury verdict at her trial for the murder of her husband. And MI7 agent Oscar Fellowes, who has been sidelined by the US military, is beginning to think he might be on the wrong side of history.
When alien Sandy makes contact, Lennox and Heather make a plan to escape with Ava. All three of them are heading for a profound confrontation between the worst of humanity and a possible brighter future, as the stakes get higher for the alien Enceladons and the entire human race…
MY THOUGHTS
In The Collapsing Wave, Doug Johnstone hits the ground running, and following on from the events in the last book in the series, Lennox, Heather and Ava are in a desperate situation. In the previous book they made contact with Sandy, an alien creature from Saturn’s moon, Enceladus, which has a sub-surface ocean which has the perfect conditions for life to evolve. The Enceladon’s have fled their home world in search of refuge on Earth, only to find now, that they are being met with hostility and their future is now threatened.
This is far from just an ordinary science fiction novel. This is something that is always apparent with whatever genre Doug Johnstone is writing in, and it is always down to his well-rounded characters. Doug Johnstone writes characters with real emotional depth, and we see this in his characters here. You get the sense that there is a real fight about to happen here and that Lennox, Heather and Ava will do anything to help protect Sandy and the Enceladon’s from harm. Although the Enceladon’s are the ones who have come to Earth, Doug Johnstone portrays the human race as the real villains in this story, except those, like Lennox, Heather and Ava.
As Doug Johnstone explored in the last book, Ava, Lennox and Heather, each have their own backstory which helps us to connect to them. The three of them are suffering from their own emotional trauma, and Doug Johnstone makes their feelings feel so real in his writing. He has a real talent for making his character’s leap off the page, and it’s why I always fly through his books as I am always desperate to find out what is going to happen to them. I really liked their connection to Sandy and the Enceladon’s; I could see how much this connection means to them.
The pace does not let up at all throughout the book. I loved how Doug Johnstone kept upping the stakes by adding real threats of imminent danger. This is particularly shown in the scenes when Heather and Lennox are being held in an American military camp, which is also where they are holding captured Enceladon’s. Doug Johnstone does a brilliant job of making the reader feel emotionally connected to the Enceladon’s, particularly through what they are going through when they have been captured. There are some humans on the base who, it is quite clear to see, don’t care about them and about Ava, Lennox, or Heather at all, and this is what makes them so scary.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Collapsing Wave and I am now eagerly awaiting the third book in the series. If you haven’t started reading this series yet, I highly, highly recommend it.
Publisher: Orenda Books
Publication date: 14th March 2024
Print length: 300 pages
The Collapsing Wave is available to buy:
FOLLOW THE BLOG TOUR
Hooked From Page One 
Thanks for the blog tour support x
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome Anne, it was a pleasure taking part.
LikeLike