The Limbic Highway
( our galactic connection )
A character’s ability to interact with purgatory poses unique questions about the nature of the afterlife.
The Limbic Highway tells the fascinating story of Jake Martee, a young man who has the ability to interact with souls in purgatory. Author Philip McInerney’s ideas about spirituality and the afterlife are unique and thought-provoking.
When Jake was ten, a bout of food poisoning nearly cost him his life. Now twenty, his life is jeopardized again when someone slips a drug into his drink at a party. Having had two near-death experiences in his young life, Jake can now interact with purgatory, an ability that no one has had since Jesus. He is enlisted by purgatory to help guide people toward good choices. He is able to influence a deadbeat dad to re-enter his children’s lives, he helps a young girl avoid becoming pregnant too soon, and he helps a judge make a fair ruling in a case involving a distracted driver who killed an old woman crossing the street.
The narrative presents a surprisingly bureaucratic view of the afterlife: purgatory is an administrative body watching over people on earth and fighting the evil barbs that cling to each individual’s limbic system. The story is organized in a way that is easy to follow. Characters are introduced and their problems are explained. This is followed by a description of a dream that is sent to them, and the impact the dream has on their actions.
McInerney thoroughly explains the organization of purgatory—even including a glossary at the end of the book—but the descriptions are occasionally difficult to follow. For example, he writes: “Your G-A—ahem, me—and anyone who needs to, can read and view dreams and memories from the virmory via the R-A-S. And the memory banks in Cerebra are available to the L-S-S. In addition, travel into the limbic highway of a person’s brain starts and ends through the R-A-S. The M-C-Us go through the R-A-S to get to the cable-four section of choice.”
Though the story is well written, the characters are two-dimensional. The Martee family is perfect, with loving, attentive parents and siblings who support and care for one another and who regularly express gratitude for their blessed life. The characters that Jake helps are equally flat. The deadbeat dad had an abusive mother and does not know how to be a loving father. The young girl in danger of becoming pregnant is in a family of women who have all had unplanned pregnancies. And the judge’s decision involves a privileged and irresponsible young girl and a hardworking grandmother trying to take care of her family. These characters are very effective at explaining the author’s spiritual ideas, but they do not make the story compelling.
Ultimately, The Limbic Highway is an interesting book in which McInerney presents a creative view of the afterlife. Though not everyone will agree with this vision, the ideas presented are sure to be entertaining as well as thought-provoking to individuals interested in spirituality.
Reviewed by
Catherine Thureson
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
