Heather’s Bookshelf: Apparent Horizon
Author: Patrick Morgan
Released: 10/6/2020
Genre: Thriller/psychological suspense
“There were a great many things he should not have done, but he had done all of them and more since the light in the sky. Some of them, he had even done before the light.”
“Apparent Horizon” introduces Michael Cavanaugh, an underachieving young man in his twenties, who is celebrating the upcoming nuptials for his best friend, Drew. Their long-time friend, Aaron, is also celebrating with them but something is bothering him. Aaron ends up revealing that while working at his dream job for NASA, he and his coworkers discovered a terrible truth - that the end of the world would happen sooner than anyone could imagine.
Michael is not a risk taker. He’s indecisive and a follower. He’s completely content to continue living his absolutely bland life. So when his friend informs him that the end of the world has begun, he struggles with deciding how he should live out the rest of his days. At first he is horrified by the decision making of his friend, Drew, the only other person in his life to know his secret. But soon, he finds himself also making similar questionable and then terrible decisions. The decisions somehow continue to get worse but you can’t turn away from seeing what other awfulness occurs.
Trigger Warning: Adult language, dark themes, murder, drug/alcohol abuse, sexual situations
Overall, I found the book to be well-written with an interesting concept. Ultimately, this story is about the choices that we make as humans. When we are faced with decisions to chose good or evil without consequence, what do we decide to do? Interesting concept right? Unfortunately, the protagonist and main ancillary character in this novel are rather repugnant to begin with. The best thing about the guy is his love for his dog, Tucker, and at times even this is questionable. So instead of following a de-evolution of a nice guy and his friend, the story follows a not-so-good-guy and his journey into darkness. The ending was intriguing, but a little open-ended for me. If you love to hate a protagonist- this one is for you!
I received a copy of this story in exchange of a fair and honest review.
OVERALL REVIEW:
A dark look at humanity and the choices that we may make when faced with our own inevitable demise. Wish that I could have rooted for the protagonist a little bit more.
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