The Apocalypse Club by Craig McLay

3.5 Stars

I'm beginning to think that Mr McLay has it in for insurance agents, this is the second novel of his set in an Insurance Company that I have read.  I will readily admit that I kept waiting for the supernatural element to sneak in to the tale but, if anything, this novel is more science fiction in classification than anything.  You have your dystopian near future, you have your historical back story, you have a shadowy organisation that appears to be up to nefarious deeds and you have a seemingly ordinary character that looks set to save the world - or, in Mark's case probably make things worse.

At first I was a bit confused where the novel was going.  The Victorian explorer set opening was great and the epistolic nature of the telling sucked me in.  Then we were in a near future with a young man unhappy in his work but with an incredible back story that seemed completely at odds with the earlier bit.  It does all come together, sort of, in to a coherent tale but it is a bit of a trial getting there at times.  It doesn't help that the timelines move about an awful lot which can leave you a bit disorientated and wondering when exactly you are but once you have got used to the rhythm of the writing it becomes easier to key in to which time period you are dealing with.

There is a good deal of rather wry, sarcastic humour scattered through the book and the actual telling of the story is engaging.  Told almost entirely from Mark's point of view it does feel as though the character is sat down with you and telling you his tale first hand.  The problem I had with it was I never really believed in his world or worried that he was in any sort of peril - after all he was sat here telling em about it so it must have all worked out in the end; right?

Mr McLay is a natural storyteller and that shines from the page and it definitely engages the reader.  Unfortunately, the story itself is a little lacking in this case.  It will definitely entertain you though.