Via Books

A BOOK FOR YOU AND YOUR ANIMAL
The first thing to say about this book is how readable I found it. When the demands of life meant I had to put it down, I looked forward to getting back to it and following the fortunes of the hero – I really wanted to know what happened next.
In Monkey Trap, Marcus Bolt has managed the difficult task of writing about a spiritual journey using the medium of fiction. The journey, as indeed it must be, is rooted in the here-and-now and demonstrates how the very place we inhabit, the very composition of ourselves, is at the heart of the spiritual experience. Combining the Subud concept of the spiritual imperative and the understanding of the forces we are inextricably bound up with in this world, and his knowledge of our psychological motivations, Marcus has created a story that explores the effect on us of all these influences. And it is to the author’s credit that rarely does the narrative slip into lecture, or a plot development feel suspect. The reader can always remain in tune with – if not always approving of – the protagonist’s actions, reactions and motives.
As the story begins we are introduced to a reclusive author who, it soon emerges, is living in the near future, either of this world or a very close parallel. We are then taken into the novel he has been writing, and follow the adventures of Jon Lucke, ‘a thirty-something adman’ as he experiences life as loser, winner, sceptic and believer – but not necessarily in that order, and sometimes more than once.
The first major turn on Jon’s path is his apparently accidental involvement with a group of people who are embodied with the essence of the animal force. How Jon copes with the consequences this has on his life and on others, and what happens when he begins to question the choices expected of him, plus the emerging relationship between the characters of this book-within-a-book and their secluded creator, makes for entertaining and thought-provoking reading.
The way Marcus depicts the power of the animal force and its consequences for its hosts, and develops the idea of this being the driving motivator in the race for global dominance, is convincing; it is also very apposite for the experience the world is having right now.
Fortunately, that slightly depressing thought can be countered by recalling his vivid description of experiencing the world from the true human level. And one can recognise the rightness of his assertion that interaction between all the forces – material, vegetable, animal and human – is mandatory for this plane of existence.
So, if you are interested in a take on the low forces, in human psychology, a spiritual journey or just like a well-told story that includes suspense, murder, sex and love, and more than a hint of conspiracy theory, then I think you’ll enjoy this book. I did.
Manuela MacKenzie