The Gathering: Anna's vanished. Ben thinks she's joined a cult. Can he save her before she's gathered?

by Douglas Renwick

Edgy, dark and challenging.

It’s March 2020. 34-year-old Ben Bellamy is single, successful and on a sabbatical from his job as a Hong Kong hedge-fund manager. He returns to England and looks up Anna, the blue-eyed blonde he should have married ten years previously. She’s disappeared, and her devastated parents beg him to find her.
Assisted by the beautiful Ling, he traces Anna to a religious cult on a remote island. He’s concerned she might have already been indoctrinated – if she’s still there. It’s a race against time as he plans her rescue.
Posing as a potential follower, Ben goes to the island risking all – including being stranded there and succumbing to their persuasive powers. The commune is not what he imagined, and the danger is darker than he feared, challenging his own long-held morals and ethical principles.
Things don’t work out as planned…

While The Gathering is a tale of action, adventure and romance, it challenges the reader to rethink their own beliefs and conclusions on artificial intelligence, atheism, organ donation and end-of-life choices. It is not for the faint-hearted, but if you like happy endings, you'll like this one.

“My honest feedback is that I genuinely couldn’t put it down – and that is rare for me! It’s fairly seldom that I get stuck into a story that I really enjoy, but I enjoyed this one immensely.”

“I liked it very much and thought the story was interesting and topical.”

“A grand tale! It’s very well written as are Douglas Renwick’s previous books, and the plot twists and turns through a myriad of situations.”

“A fast paced story with a thought-provoking theme that makes this book a very enjoyable read – highly recommended.”

333 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 20, 2019

About the author

Brought up in South East England, went to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and commissioned into the Royal Engineers.

Achieved an MA at Cambridge University in Mechanical Sciences and in Economics. Served for 25 years then set up a company restoring and renovating old houses before retiring to write and ski.

He has four children, ten grandchildren and four grand-dogs, and divides his spare time between West Kent and the French Alps. (Please note my pen name is Douglas Renwick, my two middle names.)