Following a series of unusual lights above Edinburgh a group of people suffer severe strokes and die. Three people manage to completely recover overnight. Lennox, Ava and Heather can't understand why they survived but come to realise that they have a mission, to rescue an alien from outer space.
I'm a big fan of Doug Johnstone's Skelf series but haven't read any of his stand alone novels. I approached The Space Between Us with a little trepidation as I don't really read science fiction (although I'm a big fan of Sci-Fi TV and films). I have read a lot of sci-fi but that was probably 30 years ago.
Thankfully Doug Johnstone's style and humour is front and centre in this story of how an alien race makes contact with Earth. I found myself chuckling at times as the characters came across as very real and genuine. Each of the main characters is struggling in some way. Teenager Lennox is an orphan who is regularly bullied because he's different. Pregnant Ava is in a coercive relationship with a man who wields a lot of influence locally. Heather is still grieving the death of her daughter and has recently been diagnosed with a brain tumour. Individually they are fairly powerless but when they team up they discover strength, and more importantly, that they have worth.
Working together they realise that the whole is greater than the individual parts and they have allies who are willing to support them, no matter what. This reminds us of all the different connections we have with the people in our lives, connections that make us the people we are and spread far and wide.
This is a joyful read that reinforces your faith in humanity but does make you question what the human race has done to nature in the name of scientific investigation. I would love to see this developed for the screen.
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