Though The Shelter Cycle is fiction Peter Rock has used the real-world Church Universal and Triumphant, a New Age religious group preparing for the end of the world in the late 1980's, to frame his most recent book. When a neighborhood child goes missing, Francine is surprised to encounter a face from her own childhood among those searching. Colville brings with him waves of memories from their lives inside the Church, prompting her reconsider the years she has spent away from religion prior to the birth of her first child.

I tend to enjoy books that explore religions, whether they're common or cult-like, and thought The Shelter Cycle would be a fictional lens into the religion. While it touches on the beliefs and founder a bit, there was much more of a focus on Francine and Colville. What's frustrating, though, is that I had a difficult time enjoying the book from a novel perspective because I felt the characters were quite underdeveloped. I kept hoping I would find out more about the church or their childhood, but was instead given further descriptions of walking through snow or the inside of a shelter. There is a climax toward the end, but it didn't feel redeeming enough to make up for what the rest of the novel seemed to lack.

While The Shelter Cycle may resonate with readers that have left religion behind and are questioning their choices later in life, I had a hard time syncing the novel I read with my expectations. ( )

I had not previously heard of the Church Universal and Triumphant, but I have heard of their leader who was Elizabeth Clare Prophet. They were a church in the seventies, that believed the world would end in the spring of 1990. In anticipation they built huge underground shelters in Montana, with enough supplies for seven years. Of course the world did not end so what happened to the people of this church, where did their teachings take them from here? This is the story of two such people, that were children at the time but had since grown up and had two disparate lives. I found this novel disturbing a feeling that its rather flat matter of fact tone enforced. The video of the author describing this book, was very helpful in that it explained where how and why the author became interested in this church. I also looked up this church on the good old wiki and still cant' quite understand these types of churches or cults or whatever. This book was short, but contained quite a bit. Very different. ( )