The Colony

The Colony by F.G. Cottam
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At first, I couldn't get into this book, but I am glad I stuck with it.  I think it was because I thought it sounded like the kind of science fiction I don't like. It is definitely not science fiction.  The plot involves an abandoned island in the Hebrides where all the inhabitants of the island mysteriously disappeared.  A wealthy newspaperman decides to put together a team of people from various disciplines to go to the island and find out what happened.  He suspects that the people have been taken by aliens and he wants to get definitive evidence that aliens have interacted with humans.

The author does a good job of creating believable characters who represent all the various hypothesis people have as to what happened.  He has 2 reporters, an archaeologist, a doctor specializing in  virulent diseases such as plague, a detective, a woman who has helped the police solve crimes through her gift of second sight, an exorcist and a few others. There are tensions and romances among the people and quite a bit of history.

The only criticism I have is that it was just a little too pat, but then, this is fiction.  Even though the clues were from the 1700's, there were diaries, journals, mysterious people who appeared in dreams and a number of fortuitous finds that explained most of what happened.

The pace was fast and the topic fascinating, so the reader can overlook a few heavy handed plot devices.  There was a lot of suspense and a good resolution.


View all my reviews