Book lover. Stephen King Fanatic. Will try anything once. General Lover of Fiction. Reviewer Everywhere. All views my own. Mostly.
LIFE CAME OUT OF AFRICA…
But now it’s death’s turn….
It spreads like a plague but it’s not a disease. Medical science is helpless against the deadly autoimmune reaction caused by the bite of the swarming African flies. Billions are dead, more are dying. Across the world, governments are falling, civilization is crumbling, and everywhere those still alive fear the death carried in the skies.
So, just as an aside to start this off, I’m going to have to go and check out some of F Paul Wilson’s other stories – so my to be read pile is probably about to significantly increase. Sigh. Ah well. Life throws us these curveballs…
Here we have a pretty much character driven end of days tale…following along mainly with a married couple, Abby and Nigel, as the world falls apart around them and they each find their own way of coping, it is both horrific and fascinating all at the same time.
I’m not going to say too much about what they do or why, as that really is the point of the whole thing and you need to find that out for yourself when you read this – which I highly recommend that you do – but there are many themes woven seamlessly together here, love, loss, redemption, science v faith, ultimately creating a very human story.
The writing is brilliant, I expected nothing less, but the best thing about this for me was the emotional response it elicited in me when it came to these two characters. I hated Abby with a fiery vengeance but equally I can see many readers will adore her. By the end of the book I loved Nigel with something close to hero worship, but equally I can see many readers will want to throw things. When you get characters like this, drawn with such depth and substance that they really make you FEEL then you know you are onto a good thing.
Add to that an interesting take on the apocalypse, some often disturbing descriptive prose and some very authentic scenario’s when it comes to the reactions of the general public and you have a truly terrific tale. I love reading drama’s about the destruction of humanity (hey its not just me ok?) and this is a great example of that with the added Pinborough (and Wilson of course) magic that gives it just a bit of an edge over everyone else.
Highly Recommended.
Happy Reading Folks!