TERMINAL BY ​MICHAEL BRENT COLLINGS – BOOK REVIEW

 
You just never know when a bus trip might be your last…
 
Terminal opens with a prologue which introduces the ‘Watcher’, an otherworldly cosmic weird being which is about to take a very close interest in the drama unfolding in a bus terminal which is mysteriously surrounded by in impenetrable fog. Although the ‘Watcher’ pops up from time to time he (or it? or them?) is more interested in the group of people, how they react with each other, after we realise are stranded in the bus terminal.
 
We’re quickly introduced to the group of people, none of which know each other, most are waiting for a further connection to another destination. It’s a non-descript pitstop, quickly forgotten once you’ve left it behind. Included in the mix are an old cop now working in bus security, a Mark Kay salesperson, a newlywed couple, a conman, a computer geek who seems to be on the Autism spectrum, a young woman looking for fame and a dangerous looking Mexican, who may well be a gangster. All have something to hide, not necessarily sinister, and slowly the author digs into their backstories as their crisis escalates.
 
Terminal jumps from character to character and the reader realises they did not know the protagonists as well as they thought they did. This in itself was not a major revelation and the group were probably an average cross-section of the population. After realising the group are in a type of deadly competition I guess the reader was supposed to pick a favourite to root behind, however, I never found myself truly sympathising for any of them and felt I would have enjoyed the book more if I was cheering someone in particular on. Perhaps there were slightly too many characters to choose from? As their numbers depleted there was an inevitability to the book and although it was atmospheric in parts I found it rather one-paced.
 
Before long everybody in the group gets an identical text message from someone called ‘The Other’ which states: “Only 1 will leave, all in favour” and they eventually twig that the dense fog (and something in it) has trapped them and that as a group only one of them will survive and that the others must unanimously agree on that person with a vote.
 
Yeah right, as if that would happen!  Of course, everybody wants to vote for themselves and the fun begins. It sounds like a ridiculous conundrum, but there are some surprises in the way it plays out. Would you sacrifice yourself for a complete stranger? Quickly someone goes in the fog and tries to escape after panicking, bites the bullet, and the rest of the group realise it is for real. Technology stops working and now a cancelled bus has been transformed into a game of life and death, the latter for most.
 
Once the tension mounts, and the clock starts ticking, the characters all start bouncing off each other and the inner fighting escalates. Along the way you cannot help but think of Stephen King’s The Mist, The Twilight Zone, or any number of escape room scenarios or even Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians. Unfortunately, most of the points of references I made were also much stronger works of fiction than this. Although Terminal keeps you guessing for some of the time, has some decent twists, it never truly hit top gear for me and although I was invested enough to discover who the eventual last person standing, I was not too surprised by the outcome. There are some vague revelations regarding the Watcher(s) and their motives but there was something about the whole thing I found underwhelming.
 
Terminal has had a lot of amazing praise in the horror community from highly respectable reviewers, but I just did not connect with it in the same way. It was creative, solidly written with a good range of characters, but it lacked the edge required to raise itself above the crowd in a horror market top-heavy with strong fiction.  
 
3/5
 
Tony Jones

TERMINAL BY ​MICHAEL BRENT COLLINGS