THE COMPANY by CHUCK GRAHAM

Like a number of others, when I got The Company by Chuck Graham, I thought I was getting a thriller. In spite of its apocalyptic beginning — a meteor crashes to earth obliterating life as we know it — the book is not a thriller in any conventional sense. That said, it turned out ot be a well-written and enjoyable book.

By some stroke of luck or divine planning, the folks in Brigos Glen survive a disaster that no one else has. Knowing that the book is also an allegory set my imagination running as read on. Things go pretty good for Brigos Glen until their fuel runs out and they’re plunged into the darkness that has enveloped the rest of the world. Then out of the darkness comes a voice, an opportunity to reclaim the life these folks lost. For some unfathomable reason this voice, this stranger, offers them what they need most in the world…power. Power that will light the darkness, run their appliances, and operate their businesses. It’s the proverbial offer you can’t refuse.

When the stranger gave them access to the power he also gave them an operating manual…a Plan to follow. Now fast forward seventy years. Internal squabbles and petty bickering have split the original Power Company into three co-existent parts, each with their own distinct understanding of how the Plan should be interpreted. Is it a rigid set of rules, nothing more than a group of suggestions, or an irrelevant document that’s outlived its usefulness?

Now we begin to see the allegorical pieces falling into place. The catastrophic opening scene reduces the world to a microcosm. No need for a reader to worry about what folks in Cleveland or Chicago are doing, they aren’t there anymore. So what about the pervasive darkness? Could it be a symbol of man’s fall from grace into sin? And that the Plan is starting to look more and more like…maybe a Bible?

Things come to a head when a small group of citizens of Brigos Glen receive an invitation to a meeting where they find out who’s been supplying their power and meet the Company’s leader. But like all things human, the managers of the regional power distributors each have their own vision for the future. Responsibility for pulling order out of this chaos falls to a lower- level engineer, Sam Mitchell. It’s a life-changing adventure that changes Sam’s life forever.

Pieces of the allegorical puzzle gradually come together in an interesting and satisfying way. If you’re still having problems getting things to gel, Chuck Graham graciously includes a helpful key at the back of the book. No fair peeking; you don’t want to spoil the fun.

We thank WinePress Publishing and Litfuse Publicity Group for supplying a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. -- E.G. Lewis

 

PRODUCT DETAILS:

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: WinePress Publishing (February 18, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1414120907
• ISBN-13: 978-1414120904