The Chimera's Curse

Golding’s ‘Companions Quartet’ has successfully married myth and modernity by establishing a scheme within which creatures from mythology are threatened, and thereby lured out of hiding, by humanity’s exploitation of the environment. In this concluding novel, a grand-plan is hatched by Kullervo to channel this friction and aggression in the hope of ending the human race forever. The protection club, however, have other ideas and set out to use their collective cunning, guile and intelligence – headed up by last surviving Universal, Connie – to avert this.

Running parallel to this, Col is confused as to the nature of his feelings regarding Connie and Rat. Whilst at once admiring them, he feels self-conscious of their less than usual lifestyles when he is with them. Golding expertly intertwines these story-strands, pulling them together resulting in a high-octane, explosive conclusion to what has been an astonishing sequence of books.