When it happens, it happens quickly.
New England is locked down, a strict curfew the only way to stem the wildfire spread of a rabies-like virus. The hospitals cannot cope with the infected, as the pathogen's ferociously quick incubation period overwhelms the state. The veneer of civilisation is breaking down as people live in fear of everyone around them. Staying inside is the only way to keep safe. But paediatrician Ramola Sherman can't stay safe, when her friend Natalie calls - her husband is dead, she's eight months pregnant, and she's been bitten. She is thrust into a desperate race to bring Natalie and her unborn child to a hospital, to try and save both their lives.
Their once familiar home has becoming a violent and strange place, twisted in to a barely recognisable landscape. What should have been a simple, joyous journey becomes a brutal trial.
A riveting novel of suspense and terror from the Bram Stoker award-winning author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts.
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THIS IS NOT a fairy tale PRELUDE, In Olden Times, When Wishing Still Helped
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(@TitanBooks, 7 July 2020, 200 pages, e-book, #ARC from the publisher via # NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed)
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I've read other books by this author and thought they were just okay, not nearly as good as other people seem to think. But the blurb made me really want to read this. This is a fantastic book and has completely changed my so-so opinion of the author. I now have to catch up on his back catalogue. I love dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction. There are so many possibilities. The world doesn't exactly end in Survivor Song but it comes pretty close. I knew I was going to love the book after I raced through the first few pages and intense opening of the book. What I love about this book is that it focuses on Ramola and Natalie. A lot of books in this genre tend to focus on quite a big cast of characters. This made Survivor Song stand out from other similar books. There are some horrific moments in the book as society starts to break down and people become overwhelmed by fear and suspicion but the focus of the book is Ramola's determination to save Natalie's unborn baby and Natalie's determination not to give into the rabies infection coursing through her veins until she gives birth. The ending of the book made me cry a lot. This is a brilliant book.
