James Smythe
Blue Door
Otago Daily Times, August 25th 2012
It begins with a few short sentences heard throughout the world: “My Children. Do not be afraid. Goodbye.” Then the dying begins. First are those who are driven to suicide or retribution against a society who has worshiped a false God, for whom the voice represents confirmation or negation of faith. Then people start succumbing from recoverable illnesses and non-fatal injuries.
The question on everybody’s lips is who is causing this and why. If these events are an act of God, why has He forsaken us and how can we make amends? If an act of terrorism, who is responsible and how should the major powers respond? Nobody can agree– aliens, terrorists or God – and the various interpretations and responses form the core of James Smythe’s apocalyptic novel.
The Testimony details the descent into chaos through the eyes of multiple narrators from the US Secretary of Defence to a South African drug dealer, a Congolese militia fighter to an Auckland biologist, a technique which allows Smythe to effectively capture the a wide range of viewpoints, and as the novel progresses it is possible to piece together a tentative, partial picture of the truth.
Although there are too many characters for more than a few to have any individual or believable voice, the unfolding tragedy has a tragic inevitability to it and, like all good horrors, the ending is left open to the reader’s interpretation.
https://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/books/chronicling-fall-chaos
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