Review: A Vision of Fire by Gillian Anderson & Jeff Rovin

Actor Gillian Anderson, who is best known for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully in the X-Files and as Miss Havisham in the BBC adaption of Great Expectations, returns to her sci-fi/paranormal roots to write her first novel A Vision of Fire. With the help of prolific author Jeff Rovin, the novel is both page turning and unnerving, but it also has a unique sense of human compassion, one that immediately had me drawing comparisons with J.K. Rowling, though their writing styles are, of course, quite different. 

Caitlin O'Hara is a renowned child psychologist is called in to help when the daughter of India's ambassador to the United Nations starts exhibiting strange--and dangerous--behaviours after witnessing an assassination attempt on her father. Meanwhile, there are young people in Haiti and Tehran who are both exhibiting similar behaviours. Is there a link? What Caitlin discovers is something far more complex and dangerous than she expected.

I enjoyed reading this one, partly for its fast storytelling and sci-fi themes set against a realistic backdrop, and partly because the novel had a very global feel to it, despite the New York setting. I loved the glimpses into life in Haiti and Tehran and the respectful way that the people in both countries were treated as equals, rather than a mysterious other. 

A Vision of Fire is the first instalment of The Earthend Saga, and, naturally ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. 

Recommended.

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