No one could explain what they saw, and no one could do anything about it. All the children aged nine across the world froze in time as they died a horrific death. As they stood still, they simultaneously chanted in Latin a quote from Shakespeare’s King Lear which, afterwards, every person left alive would have ingrained in their memories: ‘As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods. They kill us for their sport.’ On the first day, 130 million died.

The world has drastically changed as governments are overthrown, economies are ruined, wars have begun, conspiracy theories and cults run amok as people try to figure out what or who caused this catastrophe. Set in the rural Australian town of Gattan, the book focuses on three characters and how they react to the supernatural event known as ‘Orpheus Nine’: Jess, a grieving mother who watched her son die and finds solace in the Kingdom of Hades, a terrorist group of Orpheans (parents who’ve lost a child); Hayley, who is trying to work out how to save her daughter, whose ninth birthday is quickly approaching; and Dirk, whose wealthy and influential family always finds a way to benefit from tragedy.

The small setting emphasises the immediate distrust and lack of social cohesion when tragedy occurs, offering the town as a microcosm for the rest of the world, not only in this novel but also if this were to happen in our world. How would we react? As suspense builds and rises to a crescendo at the end, Orpheus Nine compellingly explores the psychology of each character as the end-of-days is upon them and what methods they turn to as they attempt to find comfort, justice, or even answers in the event of a sudden loss. But no matter how rich or poor, prepared or not, death comes to all. And what happened on the day of Orpheus Nine was just the beginning.