Not the End of the World by
Christopher Brookmyre
hbk out July 98
Published by Little Brown
at £12.99
This is a most complex and compelling story by Christopher Brookmyre. It is set in Santa Monica in 1999. Sergeant Larry Freeman, suffering from the bereavement of his child can well do without the hype and hysteria which is bubbling with the imminent approach of The Millennium. But worse than this is the clash between the American Feature Film Market and a Billy Graham style evangelist, Luther St John who is a billionaire and determined to return America to spiritual and moral ways. All of this is happening right on Freeman's doorstep and the LAPD are assigned to the awesome task of keeping the peace between the two.
There are many sub-plots within this novel and one concerns the Marie Celeste - like vanishing of four scientists from a ship abandoned three hundred miles out in the Pacific Ocean. Another strand of the plot is the prediction of Luther St John about the end of the world; the end that is for sinners and heathens. Freeman's problem is that the prediction has a worrying ring of authenticity and he begins a seemingly futile needle-in-a haystack search for answers.
A freelance photographer called Steff Kenedy arrives on the scene from his native Lanarkshire. He is a cynic who is clearly stunned by the righteous piety which emanates from The Festival of Light. There is a sharp, sardonic humour evident throughout the novel but Brookmyre reserves the most savage and witty comments for the scenes which expose the insidious corruptness of such sanctimonious organisations as The American Legion of Decency. One particularly amusing chapter describes a series of songs by a band called The Believers whose homophobic 'Exit Only' number and the anti sex- before- marriage 'True Love Waits' make the reader cringe because we know that such organisations are not merely fiction. The writer clearly has an enormous irritation towards such rightwing morality, particularly when it is cloaked in religion. Steff Kenedy, having been abused whilst in a Seminary has every reason to view such groups with loathing and distrust.
Madeline Witherson is another central character to the story. Disowned by her Senator Father for making porn films, she is the target of Luther St John and The Southland Militia. They reckon that a human sacrifice could save the world and who better to repent than The Whore of Babylon.
It took me a while to get into this book because there is so much happening. It's better to read it at a couple of sittings just so that all of the information can be assimilated at once. After a few chapters, I became absorbed and couldn't put it down.
Not the End of the World by
Christopher Brookmyre