Chris Flynn opens his new novel Orpheus Nine with a staggering, horrifying scene. At a children’s soccer game in Gattan, a small country town in Australia, all of the nine-year-olds stop ‘as if god’s finger had pressed the pause button on their universal remote’, then sing a line in Latin, which is in fact a quotation from King Lear and then die horribly.
There are plenty of literary apocalypses out there – viruses, zombies, robots, aliens. Chris Flynn, much in the vein of Stephen King or the TV series The Leftovers, brings us the horror-driven apocalypse. No reason, no explanation. Just people trying to deal with the fallout of an unimaginable supernatural tragedy that is ongoing, as every day following this initial event, children who turn nine die in the same way. Flynn then uses this premise to explore real-world issues of grief, class, infidelity and belief.
Orpheus Nine focusses on three Gattan citizens: Jessie, now an ‘Orphean’ whose son Ryan died on that soccer field; Dirk, a ‘decadean’, whose son Alex, at ten years and ten weeks old, survived; and Hayley, whose daughter Ebony is eight and facing dying on her ninth birthday. Flynn follows their different trajectories but also digs into their complicated pasts. This is still small-town Australia, so the three have known each other since they were children and carry those past interactions with them into this tragedy.
Through Jess, Flynn explores issues of grief, how we process it and how we deal with it. She finds the need to connect with mothers like herself and does so by visiting Ryan’s grave. But this sense of community soon metastasises into something else: a global terrorist group called the Kingdom of Hades, although it is unclear what this group is trying to achieve other than lashing out.
The group is symptomatic of the global unrest that has followed the onset of Orpheus 9. By setting his action in a small country town, Flynn is able to avoid some of this chaos. Flynn uses Gattan explore the global scenario in microcosm but he also makes the town remote and self-sufficient enough that they have the resources to survive a global upheaval.
Meanwhile, Hayley has become one of the ‘Saltless’. As the Orpheus Nine syndrome seems to result from a sudden increase in sodium, there is a widespread belief that preventing eight-year-olds from ingesting salt will save them from the condition. But Ebony, despite living with a countdown clock, just wants to be a normal kid and is constantly fighting against her mother’s restrictions.
And Dirk, whose family had always been in the upper echelon of Gattan and believes that ‘Triumph was in their genes’, just sees Orpheus Nine as providing new opportunities for power.
Flynn builds to a clever, multifaceted climax that draws much of its power from readers’ understanding of these three characters and their shifting relationships over time.
In some ways, Orpheus Nine goes down typical post-apocalyptic lines that readers will be very familiar with from properties like Stephen King’s The Stand, or The Last of Us or Station 11: the rise of resistance groups (although it is unclear what they are actually resisting), the chancers who take advantage of the power vacuum, the people trying to make sense of a world that has ceased to make sense.
If there is a caveat to Orpheus Nine it would be with readers’ willingness to just go with the premise. At no time does Flynn explain why this is happening. Okay, nine-year-olds are dying, but what is it with the singing of Shakespeare in Latin? It’s creepy and a little bit freaky and makes for a truly great and horrifying opening scene, but it’s never explored or explained and it is unclear if Flynn even knows where to go with it, except that it is a great catalyst for exploring other issues.
Orpheus Nine joins a long list of post-apocalyptic works in which some tragic, inexplicable event drives the world into new social and political forms. As with many of the better examples of this genre, the question is how Flynn uses his premise to explore broader issues and the tensions that are alive in modern Australia. And in this respect Orpheus Nine succeeds. Flynn uses a fever-dream idea to effectively explore a range of themes, including how we deal with tragedy and grief, persistent class distinctions, and the impacts of unfocused anger at those in power.

I find myself drawn to speculative fiction more and more in the climate we’re living through. I find it oddly comforting, if a little dark. Orpheus Nine is one of the most original ideas in this genre that I’ve read in a while. It tackles some pretty big topics around over-population and pandemic, all while giving us a riveting story. If the pandemic narrative feels a little time-worn to you: fear not. Orpheus Nine is not your typical “pandemic” book, and it didn’t irk me the way a lot of pandemic narratives do.

Synopsis: All around the globe, an unexplainable plague simultaneously strikes down every 9 year old in the world. As eight year old children reach their ninth birthday, they too succumb to the strange phenomenon, reciting a line from King Lear before they’re abruptly silenced. The small, rural town of Gattan rallies to protect their children and survive in a world that’s crumbling around them.

The characters in this story are what really make it. It’s not a super long book, but the author goes to lengths to build complex and layered characters in a short space of time. I felt the writing balanced the storyline of the Orpheans (those that lost children in the first wave) against the backstories of the characters masterfully. The book does have that “race against time” quality as the residents of the town do what they can to protect their children, and I felt the suspense and pace was well executed.

Very, very clever and well-written book. This was the first of Chris Flynn’s books that I’ve read, but it certainly won’t be the last.

5 ⭐️

Thank you to Hachette Australia and New Zealand for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What a ripper of a story! Speculative fiction with a supernatural twist that Stephen King would be proud of!

It's also very difficult to write about without giving away any of the best bits. But early on, as the blurb says, suddenly, unexpectedly all the nine years in the world disappear for good at the same time in a rather shocking and distressing manner for those who witness it. After this, as an eight year has their ninth birthday, they too disappear forever.

This is the story about what happens to those who survive this tragic event. Those who lost a child, those who are about to lose a child and those who were lucky enough to have a child turn ten prior to the event all deal with the aftermath differently. As do leaders and governments around the world.

Remember some of the crazy stuff that happened during the Covid-19 pandemic? Triple it, quadruple it as Chris Flynn takes us on a thrilling, frightening journey into what might have happened and what could happen again if something more inexplicable and unexplainable were to happen in the future.

This book will not suit everyone, but I couldn't put it down, racing to the end to see how on earth Flynn was going to bring the story to a logical or reasonable conclusion. All I will say is that he did - and it will blow your mind too!

The premise of this book had me intrigued and I was hooked from beginning to end.
9 year olds around the world drop dead. What is happening?
Chris Flynn dials into these characters and their responses to the Orpheus Nine phenomenon so expertly. The grieving mother who's 9 yr old perishes, the father of a just-turned-10 year old who survived while his friends did not, and the mother of an almost 9 year old counting down the days and doing everything in her power to stop the worst from happening.
I tore through this book in 1 sitting, I literally could not stop reading it! Another fabulous and completely different book from Chris Flynn.

Orpheus Nine was incredible. The premise is bizarre yet believable, and one of those books that hooks you immediately. In particular, I loved that despite it being a monumental worldwide event, the focus was on a tiny town in Australia. Can't wait to show this one to my customers.

I absolutely loved this book. I am a fan of Chris Flynn and writing and like the quirky elements he brings to each book (whether full novel or short stories). Not my usual type of story but I couldn't put it down. It was a really interesting premise to begin with and I think he book ended the story really well.

In the town of Grattan, New South Wales, the under 10’s have taken to the soccer field, it is a normal, day, parents are on the sidelines gossiping and cheering. What they do not know they will witness an event that will happen to one hundred and thirty million other nine year olds. The children will sing a Latin quote from King Lear and then their world will be shattered. To make matters worse the same event happens each time a child turns nine and no one can discover why.

The inability by government, science, or religion to find answers to the phenomenon known as Orpheus Nine leads to a global meltdown. People get angry and confused resulting in governments being overthrown, law and order erased, supply chains falling over, and the conspiracy theories are rampant.

The story follows three people who live in Grattan, they have known each other since childhood, and each is impacted in a different way as are the family and friends who surrounded them.

Jess watched as her son Tyler was affected by the phenomenon and she has been labelled as an Orphean, a term of recognition and derogatory. Jess struck by grief, is angry, confused, tired of the “trauma vampires”, has a husband who has turned to the bottle and desperately needs an outlet to channel her anger and guilt. Jess finds the Kingdom of Hades, a group of Orphean’s determined to make people aware of their plight.

Hayley’s daughter Ebony is eight, with the dreaded day looming, she is determined to find a way to save her daughter. She investigates every crackpot theory and becomes a no-salter. Advocating and removing salt from everything in an evangelical manner. Her zealotry towards protecting Ebon, has her alienating her daughter from friends and family.

Those not impacted by Orpheus Nine are called Decadians, the children of the final generation and Dirk Van der Saar can see the opportunity in that. The Van der Saar’s have been in Grattan for generations and they are old town money. Dirk knows he should feel guilt that his son survived but he is a businessman, a survivor, it is time to adjust to the new world and make things happen.

Through the interactions of three characters, you are exposed to the impact that Orpheus Nine has on Grattan, the state, the country, and the world and how the views of people are shaped. Flynn really does a marvellous job in exposing the different reactions to the events and creates a world that is devouring itself through fear and hatred but also the way each of the main characters tries to deal with their situation. The intricacies of the characters, their emotions, how they all know each other in the town of Grattan, really brings you into not just the action but the motivations of the people. One of the joys in reading Orpheus Nine is how all these tangled messes are interrelated and how they create tension, division and hope.

This book is unique, the first chapter is utterly spellbinding, and I was hooked. Flynn takes you on a rollercoaster, you rapidly turning pages needing to know what how this will be resolved. It is an absolute corker and will linger long after finished.