Children's Fiction For Adults; Colony by J.A. Henderson

Jan Andrew Henderson’s a strange man, in that his income comes from two (maybe three) very different areas. He runs one of the best ghost tour groups in Edinburgh; City of the Dead** and has written three books about the ghostly goings on in this town. He’s also written three children’s novels.

I only discovered his books while browsing his own shop after finishing a tour with City of the Dead. And I am very glad I did. J.A. Henderson’s children’s books are dark, clever thrillers that hold no punches and drag you along for the ride with their devastating honesty.

I ain’t exaggerating here. Colony begins with a young teenager waking up in the back of a moving van surrounded by corpses… and it gets much worse. It dances between a variety of time lines and towns, cities and countries. There isn’t really any single protagonist and you’re never sure if someone is an antagonistic villain, just a villain or is going to turn out to be a good guy.

There is so much that happens between the first and last chapters, so many twist and bombshells that I can’t really go into very much detail about the plot without spoiling it… but here goes anyway.

The American military has been conducting experiments on prisoners. One of these experiments went horribly, horribly wrong out in the Mojave desert. Rocks fell, everyone died… all except for three people. A young boy, a doctor and her as yet unborn child. Three thousand miles away and thirty years later, a bunch of children on a small, isolated island off the Hebrides start to realise that their quiet, innocent little village isn’t so innocent… or quiet.

And then there’re ants, cicada life cycles, sociopaths, murder mysteries, mass murderers, mad scientists, underground bases, attempted genocide, helicopter battles, genetically modified people, poltergeists and not a single morally perfect adult character in sight. Even some of the kids have blood on their hands before the story even gets going and by the end… well, you’ll have to read it.

Henderson’s lay-the-moral-grey-areas-of-life-and-brutality-of-existence-on-thick style is very reminiscent of Garth Nix. His first book for older teens, Bunker 10, while having a very different story had a similar feel to Nix’ Shade’s Children (excellent intro to Nix; hits you hard and fast and leaves you gasping for air at the end). Henderson’s books, though, are much more… twisty-turny. They are sci-fi thrillers. Not content with telling a straight out story, Henderson adds tension by withholding information, telling a story in gobbets from different people’s perspectives and at different points in time, and he’s perfected this style with Colony.

A thoroughly exciting read that gets through an awful lot of story and has mileage to spare. Big thumbs up from me. Go read it. Or if you happen to be in Edinburgh pop by The Wee Shop in The Graveyard, just inside the entrance to Greyfriars Kirk.

**As my partner works for one of their rivals, I have to clarify that their tours are my favourite because they go into Greyfriars Kirk, where no one else goes.