Kevin, a reluctant Anti-Christ.
Murray, a conscientious librarian in eternity's own Hall of Records.
Hanna, a newly-orphaned teen with a budding talent in demolitions.
Buzz and Fructose, two resolute bubble gum runners determined to serve the kids of Singapore.

Like his previous satire, Beige, Fructose's Guide to the Apocalypse serves up a furious word salad and genre pastiche, threading scenes like party lights on an Apocalypse plotline. As with Pratchett & Gaiman's Agnes Nutter, the Apocalypse offers a handy premise for satirizing all manner of topics. The resulting tale isn't plot driven or a character portrait, rather a collection of scenes skewering various aspects of contemporary society.

For all that, Kuchan's plotting isn't haphazard, he ably juggles his many characters as the doomsday clock ticks down to zero. It's a quick read, but dense with ideas and populated with distinct characters. While the lampoon propelled me along on the first read, one reward of re-reading will be seeing how cleverly the Apocalypse premise allows Kuchan to bring together so many different critiques in a wide variety of settings. It also provides an opportunity to solve the mystery of O'Hare's missing Terminal Four. ( )