Four simultaneous plane crashes. Three child survivors. A religious fanatic who insists the three are harbingers of the apocalypse. What if he's right?

The world is stunned when four commuter planes crash within hours of each other on different continents. Facing global panic, officials are under pressure to find the causes. With terrorist attacks and environmental factors ruled out, there doesn't appear to be a correlation between the crashes, except that in three of the four air disasters a child survivor is found in the wreckage.

Dubbed 'The Three' by the international press, the children all exhibit disturbing behavioural problems, presumably caused by the horror they lived through and the unrelenting press attention. This attention becomes more than just intrusive when a rapture cult led by a charismatic evangelical minister insists that the survivors are three of the four harbingers of the apocalypse. The Three are forced to go into hiding, but as the children's behaviour becomes increasingly disturbing, even their guardians begin to question their miraculous survival...

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, May 2014: The "facts" are these: four planes crash almost simultaneously in different parts of the world; three children survive, against all reason. When one victim's ominous final voicemail message makes headlines, the religious and out-of-this-world conspiracy theories are abound. Sarah Lotz masters a chorus of distinct character voices as she tells a thrilling, disturbing story in the guise of a nonfiction oral history. The "author" is a character herself, presenting interviews, chat transcripts, book excerpts, and news stories. Lotz commits so fully to each character's perspective that we can never quite determine which is the telling the â??truthâ??--if any. Prepare to be surprised, mesmerized, frustrated, spooked, and utterly entertained. Remind yourself occasionally that it's not real, but maybe play it safe and avoid reading this book on a plane.--Robin A. Rothman

Recommended to book clubs by 0 of 0 members.