Greg West's book is titled "The Gathering: Signs of the Times" -- A Novel of Millennial Fiction." Fans of the Department of Redundancy Department will smile at that last phrase -- aren't all novels "fiction"?

The setting is the year 2009. The world is in a state of turmoil, with the U.S. facing major catastrophes and formidable foes overseas. China has become a real threat to American security; North Korea is making war-like noises. And, to make things worse, a new computer virus is set to explode on the world scene, bringing entire economies to their knees.

When Congress convenes secret hearings into the problem, an extraordinary scheme is hatched -- since the virus is timed to go off on a certain date, the world should immediately change to a different way of marking the date. Now, add to this mix the startling announcement that we have been visited by extraterrestrials, and that they are now angling to take over the world's governments, and you have something of a wild story.

Behind all this are some well-described and developed characters, some of whom are Latter-day Saints. As they view the terrible events before them, they recognize the fulfillment of prophecies, and look to the Prophet of the Church to give them guidance. One of the central characters, a young man named Jared Walsh, is killed in military action early in the book, but he maintains a vigil over his family. His father, Ron, is a leader in their ward in Alaska, and takes a commanding role in guiding the Saints away from danger and into a safe place.

The author clearly considers the prophecies and teachings of both the scriptures, and of the Mormon leadership, to be authoritative. And, in truth, he captures the spirit of the apocalyptic, end-time view very nicely. Despite what sounds like an absurd premise (extraterrestrials, changing the way we mark dates), he actually weaves the thing into a compelling and interesting book.

But... the book is self-published. As so often happens with self-published works, this book suffers from a serious need of editing. Punctuation is so erratic that the reader is often distracted from the story. An example:

"The cards don't just keep track of purchases," Ron explained, but they record where you shop and what you bought, too." When you go back to reload the card with cash, it uploads that information to the bank. Banks are reselling the information as mailing lists and make a profit off our personal information." (p. 88)

Now, except for the words "Ron explained," the rest is a single quote. This type of messy stuff is so extensive that, even as a fairly patient reader, I found myself distracted and disturbed. Surely this could have been fixed before the book went to press.

Another example has the President of the Church saying the following:

It is evident, that as our government has not the power to save us; that we should prepare to defend ourselves. (p. 184)

Again, botched punctuation, making for tedious reading.

I must say that I enjoyed the story. And I would like to know what happens next. The book leaves us with the Saints of Alaska setting out on a trek, and the world political and economic situation far from settled. There's also some funny business going on with the "Visitors," with some doubting they even exit.

There are two more volumes in the series. I don't know if they are put together better, if the editing is better. But when a book has at least one error on nearly every page, it seems to me that the effort expended deserves a better product. West is a good writer, and he has some good ideas. He does, however, need to get to work on proof-reading.

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Jeff Needle
March 19, 2005