For the first time in 43 years, Firminus, essentially the
captain of the Plexus, must change course. Otherwise, the
giant self-contained and self-sustaining spacecraft will encounter
a strange band of radiation speeding through space at the speed of
light.

Seventeen-year-old Cheney was born on the Plexus. The
people living on the ship, more than 1,000 in total, were hoping to
eventually discover a habitable planet. There are no lifeboat
crafts because there is no one to rescue them in deep space.
Plexus is their only hope of sustaining life in space (and
possibly continuing the existence of humans as a species). If the
craft they all call home is destroyed, everyone dies.

Everyone aboard is on Yellow Alert as Cheney's father and other
experts try to figure out how to avoid the radiation belt. Firminus
looks stressed as he starts the procedure to change their course
from the direction they've traveled forever. Although he succeeds
in changing course, the ship has no chance of attaining the speed
of light and thus outrunning the emission wave. In fact, they've
only changed their point of impact.

Even as Cheney considers the fact that there inevitably will be
a Red Alert and that everyone on board may die soon, a feeling of
unreality dulls his emotions. He knows he must tell his crush
Caromy how he feels about her, but as he stumbles through a
conversation without quite expressing his love, Plexus
goes on Red Alert. And then everything begins happening fast as
everyone readies for impact an hour away.

Cheney still doesn't feel agitated, even as the loudspeaker
blares and his medic mother passes out pills to help with the
physical effects of reduced gravity. Cheney asks his knowledgeable
friend Sloan if the sedating gas rumored to flow into their
pressure suits during a Red Alert might be affecting him. He
doesn't let himself think about the other gas Sloan told him about,
which would painlessly kill them all if Plexus's hull
should disintegrate.

The countdown to impact is intense. But then it seems that the
ship is through the radiation, and everything is fine. At first,
everyone is relieved. Then they realize that there are ominous
signs of repercussions. One person has passed out, and there are
low-level energy surges around the hull. That's when Cheney notices
something that terrifies him. On the wall, he sees a pink
discoloration that changes hue even as he watches. A blue
discoloration would mean that the integrity of the ship has been
threatened, but no one knows what this color means. The stain
spreads rapidly, and soon the ominous pink flush has been spotted
all over Plexus. Surfaces become moist and spongy --- and
then they begin moving as the ship becomes a living organism. Doors
turn into slabs of muscle; blood vessels can be seen in
partitions.

As Cheney and others make their way through the body of the
animate being that was once their spaceship, they discover
something that changes everything: a corpse missing her middle
section. Then they're under attack by their own ship's immune
system, which must kill the humans within it.

A little bit Aliens, part Fantastic Voyage,
definitely Stephen Kingesque --- while staying quite original ---
LIVING HELL is a 100% scary, violent,
turn-the-page-quick-now-I-can't-sleep space thriller. This
cinematic white-knuckler starts a bit slowly while Catherine Jinks
sets up the characters and atmosphere, but it rapidly turns into a
roller-coaster thrill ride that just won't quit.

I'd like to take this opportunity to review this book in the
author's own words (from a passage on page 142): "It was like a
nightmare. It was the sort of thing only the sickest of minds could
ever have imagined." (And, dear author, please believe I mean this
in the most complimentary way!) Highly recommended for
adventure, suspense, and/or science fiction fans.

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