Title: The Sanctuary: A Story Exploring Different Responses to Stress Set in a Health Resort in the Tasmanian Wilderness
Author: James Outhwaite
Publisher: XlibrisAU
ISBN: 978-1-52451-761-8
Pages: 124
Genre: Fiction
Reviewed by: Joe Kilgore
Pacific Book Review
James Outhwaite has composed a tale with echoes of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. That classic brought a diverse group of secretly flawed individuals to a remote island and then had each of them killed in turn. This story has a diverse group of highly stressed individuals alighting on a remote health resort in the Tasmanian wilderness. Rather than doing away with them however, this author is content to dial up their anxiety levels and then have them coalesce to see if they can help solve each other’s problems. Christie’s was a compelling tale of mystery. Outhwaite’s is an initially engaging narrative, more psychological treatise than potboiler.
Tom is a marketing executive who has just lost a large account. Erratic behavior at work and at home ensues and his boss insists that he take a week at The Sanctuary, a luxurious health resort secluded near the rainforests at the edge of Cradle Mountain National Park in Tasmania. There, he is joined by eight other professionals from various realms of business and academia who are seeking respite from the strain and pressure of personal situations. Just after they all arrive and settle, one of the guests hangs himself. As you might imagine, this puts rather a pall on the proceedings. Especially when another guest goes haywire and winds up stabbing and killing the manager of the resort. Because the place is so remote, and because a snowstorm is beginning to totally isolate them from all outside help, the guests, with some help from the remaining members of the staff, take it upon themselves to soldier on until actual authorities can arrive. Yes, in a manner of speaking, the inmates decide to run the asylum.
Now the keen among you may see potential here for a rather reverse Lord of The Flies scenario with anxiety-ridden grownups taking the place of British schoolboys. But that is not to be. Instead, the author leans heavily on his long career in corporate executive life and management consulting and thus concocts a plot wherein Tom and almost all of his fellow guests act not only responsibly but insightfully as well. To be sure, there are impending obstacles that must be overcome. Such as a dangerous trek through the forest at night, a loner losing his grip but keeping his knife, and an ancient curse put upon the place by the leader of a slaughtered race of aborigines.
Outhwaite’s fiction has all the ingredients for an involving, even a compelling read. His writing of it however, places much more emphasis and detail on stress related behavior and corrective treatment rather than storytelling. While his pace is adequately maintained, and his prose is descriptive, both his dialogue and his back-stories suffer from an overabundance of repetition.
What does come across well though, is his thorough knowledge of stress counseling, mentoring, and team effectiveness. Plus his obvious love and regard for the pristine beauty of Tasmania’s remote areas.
If you are at all interested in human behavior under pressure, the right ways and wrong ways to handle it, and how to make the best of bad and degenerating situations, consider this. You can check out any number of dry dissertations on all of the above from the library, or you can find out how a disparate group of beleaguered individuals took care of themselves by checking into The Sanctuary.
