High stakes, high adrenaline and somehow so gentle and moving. This is one of the most beautiful, extraordinary books I've ever read' Of all the things I was expecting from this book, being taken to some emotional places I have never been taken to by a sci-fi book before was not one of them. I still, to this moment, hours after finishing this book, have not managed to work out how Doug Johnstone has made an alien cephalopod who can’t speak a creature that can illicit such empathy and such strong emotion from, not only the three protagonists in the book, but from the reader as well. There were times in this book that I was on the verge of tears (the scene with Ava and Sandy in the bath being the main one) and the story was so resonant and uplifting, its quite incredible. A novel where the central character in peril is so unlike anything you would normally feel a connection to is the novel has made me feel the most empathy and sympathy for that character than any other book I have read so far this year.

These three are special for reasons they don’t understand, and they are drawn to a strange octopus-like creature on a beach outside Edinburgh, where the meteor was seen crashing into the sea. To save its life, they have to go on a road-trip across the Scottish Highlands, dark forces chasing after them all the way. I jokingly told my publisher the elevator pitch: ‘ ET meets Thelma and Louise’. But there’s a kernel of truth in that.

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One ordinary afternoon on the Edinburgh beach, a display of lights in the sky, the stranding of a mysterious squid and a series of unexplained strokes suffered by bystanders connect the lives of our three protagonists. Lennox is a teenage boy struggling with his identity and feeling like he doesn’t belong. Ava is heavily pregnant and on the run from an abusive relationship, in search of a new place to call home. Heather has lost all hope of ever finding that feeling of home again, after losing her daughter to cancer, and now suffering a terminal diagnosis herself as well.

This intriguing novel is a refreshing sci-fi journey set in modern Scotland, that reads so easily it could've only been written by a master of their craft. I devoured the entire thing in one sitting, disconnecting myself from the outside world and transported to one so familiar but so strange. A clever and unusual read … I was on a journey with these characters, and completely transfixed’ Susi HollidayI am always excited and delighted to be given a place on an Orenda Books blog tour as they are always in high demand and the tour for The Space Between Us by Doug Johnstone is no exception. So I owe gratitude to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for offering me one of the coveted places and to the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of the book for the purpose or review. I have reviewed the book honestly and impartially.

Their journey to find out more about Sandy and his kind was fraught with obstacles, both personal and from the outside, but as they sped towards their destination with determination, they work together to get through every single absurd series of events that was thrown their way. I felt their anxiety, their fear, but also the love and understanding they were learning to find. All see a flash of light in the sky and collapse where they are; all three wake up in the same hospital ward. Overnight, a whopping 16 people have had strokes, all of them were outdoors at the time. But while one of the bullies lies in the corner of the ward, alive but barely able to move, Lennox, Ava and Heather have recovered completely. Was Johnstone sending a veiled political message? Well, maybe not. But I think I would happily exchange some of our own political representatives for those with the hearts and souls of our protagonists. However, when it comes the realistic elements within a sci-fi novel, I want them to actually be rooted in reality. For that reason I was immediately annoyed with the first few chapters of this novel, especially with the ridiculous depiction of the hospital-scenes. Since it’s mentioned in the synopsis, and happens in the first few chapters, I don’t consider this a spoiler; the inciting incident involves our protagonists suffering a simultaneous, unexplained stroke and waking up within the hospital afterwards. What follows is a scene in which they’re all in a multi-patient open room, having woken up not 5 minutes earlier, only for a doctor (read: walking-plot-vehicle-of-exposition) to walk in and explain in detail what happened. This involves exposing patient-sensitive medical info to other patients (hello HIPAA violations!!), discharging patients mere minutes after suffering massive strokes and potential brain-damage, and quite a few medical inaccuracies that can’t be explained by “magic-alien-stroke”. The entire sequence reads incredibly amateurish on an exposition level, and feels written by someone who has never experienced a hospitalization themselves. As a chronically ill, cancer-survivor and MD: this stuff bothers me personally more than it might most.It is however one book that a synopsis simply can’t compare to the wild ride of a story you are in for. But there is a brilliant cast; A heavily pregnant woman, a brain tumour patient and a teenage boy all connected…oh yes and by an octopus-like creature. They go on the run through Scotland…what are they running from and why? and what they find along the way…you can only read for yourself to find out. a b "Doug Johnstone promises a dead good read". www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com. 5 April 2014. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Orenda Books in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***