Picking up six months on from the ending of The Space Between Us, Doug Johnstone’s The Collapsing Wave is the second instalment in his ‘Enceladons Trilogy’.
The world was shaken at the end of The Space Between Us as the telepathic Encelaldons revealed themselves as thousands of octopus/jellyfish-like aliens and began a great decent into a Scottish loch. The sight was seen by many, but in a modern age of fake news, months on, it’s all but forgotten about and discredited by the population at large. After the US military set up an encampment around the loch and sealed off the area, only die hard true believers are still sure that it really happened.
The story continues following the three human protagonists of the first book with Lennox and Heather imprisoned by the US military at the side of the loch while Ava awaits to stand trial for the murder of her abusive husband. All three maintain their telepathic connection between each other, gifted to them by Sandy, their Enceladon friend. Even Ava’s newborn baby, Chloe, is starting to exhibit her own even deeper and more emotional connection with her mother.
Incarcerated, Lennox and Heather are subjected to constant experimentation as power-mad camp commander, Carson, desperately searches to find a way to neutralise what he perceives to be the Enceladon meance to the human race. When a breakthrough occurs and it becomes clear that the peaceful Enceledons are under very real danger of being hunted, the trio must find a way to reconnect with Sandy and warn the Enceledons of the threat and the darker side of human nature.
As proven in The Space Between Us, Johnstone doesn’t shy away from complex themes and smartly leverages the lens of science fiction to cut deep into the human experience. Essentially a chapter two in a first contact story, The Collapsing Wave feels like a spin on The Outer Limits‘ opening episode, ‘The Galaxy Being’, where a peaceful alien race comes to earth, only to be met with violence and hysteria when their superior capabilities are revealed. The well-paced and carefully breadcrumbed plot is fed to the reader with tender finesse, such that character decisions and reveals feel truthful and believable.
Despite the harsh realities of humanity that are writ large in the novel, Johnstone’s painting of the villains with sub-human character flaws and the heroes as everyman characters establishes a very gently told story, burying within it an undercurrent of hope. The temperate tone draws parallels with Ron Howard’s Cocoon, taking readers on a delightfully thoughtful exploration of introspection and wonder.
While there are some very slight mis-hits, the book’s complex messages are on the whole delivered with compassion rather than judgement and seem to come from a place of understanding. A daringly hopeful vision of first contact that acts as a perfect continuation from the previous book, we’re just left waiting impatiently for the conclusion.
The Collasing Wave is OUT NOW from Orenda Books.
If you fancy a little more first contact fun then not check out author Doug Johnstone’s top 5 first contact stories here.
