The Rapture (novel)

The Rapture is a 2011 novel by American author Liz Jensen. It is a psychological thriller centered around psychiatrist Gabrielle Fox, who works with adolescent patients in a secure unit. Gabrielle possesses a unique and unsettling ability: she can sense when someone is about to die.

The novel opens with Gabrielle being drawn to Bethany Krall, a teenage patient who claims to be receiving apocalyptic visions. Initially skeptical, Gabrielle finds herself increasingly disturbed by Bethany's increasingly detailed and accurate predictions of natural disasters and global catastrophes.

As Bethany's predictions begin to come true with alarming regularity, Gabrielle grapples with the possibility that Bethany might be genuinely clairvoyant, or, even more disturbingly, somehow causing the events to happen. Driven by a mix of professional duty and growing personal fear, Gabrielle attempts to understand and help Bethany, while also trying to avert the impending disasters prophesied in Bethany's visions.

The novel explores themes of mental illness, environmental catastrophe, the power of belief, and the nature of reality. It delves into the psychology of fear and the human tendency to seek explanations, even irrational ones, in the face of overwhelming events. The Rapture is characterized by its suspenseful plot, complex characters, and thought-provoking exploration of contemporary anxieties about the future.