Taylor’s protagonist is the brilliant mind behind a Vancouver-based biotech startup that is creating an ingestible diagnostic device. Her life is the 24/7 world of tests, deadlines and in this case an angel investor who isn’t all that angelic.

Then a phone call in the middle of the night from one of the other handful of survivors of the plane crash jolts her awake and jolts her emotionally as the caller on the other end quickly becomes a dark cloud dispensing cryptic warnings — warnings that lead her down the rabbit hole of survivor’s guilt.

“You survived, get over yourself. That is a really complicated thing for survivors to do,” said Taylor over the phone recently.

Taylor said that survivors of trauma have a lot in common when it comes to life after-the-fact.

“The literature on survivors guilt is amazing for its consistency,” said Taylor, who’s previous novel Stanley Park was a national bestseller and a finalist for the Giller Prize.