The following review was contributed by:  Theresa Derwin. Click HERE to read more of Theresa's reviews.

The biological warfare story has been done before.  From Stephen King’s The Stand to Graham Masterton’s Plague, it is a recurring plot device for the Science Fiction and horror author.  However, whilst Continuum’s main focus is on international terrorism and biological warfare, this element is offset neatly against a backdrop of mystical events and deep spiritualism, which separates this novel from the crowd. 

Continuum begins 27 years ago, when two children are born, on opposite ends of the USA, each child born with an amethyst mote in her eye indicating a pre-ordained destiny and wealth of extraordinary insight and power.  27 years on, the paths of Angela and Teeba collide.  Two sides of the same coin, two halves of the same soul, separated at birth they are fated to work together in a bid to defeat a terrorist group intent on unleashing a plague on the USA Heads of State.  MAX 18 (which can kill in 18 hours or less) is a lethal genetically modified virus, an offshoot of the Ebola Virus, more horrific than the Black Plague.  The Organisation of American Aryans, joining forces with Al-Saafi and a team of expert scientists, are ready, willing and able to release its’ deadly power on the world.

Whilst the general plot veers comfortably towards the political thriller genre, there is so much more happening in Continuum, that the reader is sure to be enticed.  The ‘Continuum’ of the title represents an ancient continuum of souls, old souls throughout history, brought to Earth to achieve great things and change the course of humanity.  In this novel (Beider’s second), each soul, each life, is inextricably linked to another life.  What at first seems to an amazing sequence of coincidences in regards to character connections is soon revealed to be something deeper.  Beider reels us in unwittingly, as we start to realize that there is a larger plan at work.  Every relationship, friendship, birth, death, love or marriage is intertwined and has a distinct purpose in Beider’s world.  And each character is highly believable.  The coincidences, no longer seem apparent, but seem logical.

Continuum, though scattered with a dab of terrorism, and a dash of mysticism, still remains a contemporary Science Fiction novel with a difference.