The Boy on the Bridge, book review. (M.R.Carey)

So we're back, back where we left off at the end of, The Girl with all the Gifts . . .
Well, no actually, we're not.
The Boy On The Bridge is a prequel. It is set ten years after the virus hit and ten years before the first book and although there's no film and therefore will be lesser known, it is in my humble opinion just as good.

The virus has hit and it's hit hard, huge swathes of the population are essentially dead - walking dead (Hungries). All around the country, whether town village, hamlet of city, they wait, silently, patiently, as if in limp mode, and when an unsuspecting animal or human happens upon them, they pounce, chasing down their victims until they've gorged on their flesh.

London (Beacon) has become a fortress, with towering walls to keep out the Hungries, but order can't be maintained forever, there has to be hope; and there in, is the crux of the book.

Power is shifting, law and order is teetering, people had hope and need it again. There has to be something to cling to, a hint that the last ten years hasn't been for nothing, that life might one day return to what it once was, which is where the mobile tank/laboratory Rosalind Franklin comes in.

Setting off in search of finding a cure, uninfected humans or both, a band of scientists and military personnel leave London in the Rosalind Franklin and head north.

I found the characters and their interactions in such a confined space compelling. The conflict between science and military, between Beacon's secret agenda (there's a traitor in our midst) and the safety of the crew verses the safety of humanity, all handled well and then, when they walk into a small seemingly deserted village in Scotland and are ambushed by a group of organised child Hungries, the quiet, peaceful tone of the book, with it's subtle (up until that point) power struggle, is shattered by gunfire, blood and the screams of the dying.

Bonds are forged and broken as the crew retreat, and although the Rosalind Franklin is impenetrable to the children's attempts to gain entry, there is an unease amongst the crew as they are followed. Day in day out the children attacked. Day in day out the internal battle between military and science continues, and the tension just keeps building. Hungries that are organised, that give and receive orders, attack different parts of the Rosalind Franklin with different methods each time should be studied, captured, not exterminated, surely?

Well, one crew member thinks so; so much so that they smuggle . . . Oh come on! You know I never give the game away, you'll have to read it to find out how it ends/continues/leads into the first book, but it's worth it.

Zombie/apocalyptic fiction not your bag? Well, truth be told it's not really mine either but when it's done well, as it is here, then I'm more than happy.

Three and a half stars for this atmospheric and quietly creepy prequel then and even though you know they don't entirely succeed in their mission, it's fun finding out how.

Don't forget to search my blog for your favourite authors and books and if I haven't read them yet why not message me with your recommendations.

The Girl with all the Gifts, book review. (M.R.Carey)

Post-apocalyptic horror books come in all different shapes and sizes, from the true epics like, The Stand, to thin slivers of excellence like, I am Legend, but most of them fit into just a few categories: The Virus, The War or the Invasion; this book however, is harder to categorise.

There is a virus of sorts, but we only know that it turns people into 'hungries', zombie like creatures that feast on non-infected people, but, and it's a big but, there are the infected children, like Melanie, the girl with all the gifts: super intelligent, nice, articulate and more, who has the virus, but has no desire to feast on humans - or does she?

The book is told predominantly from Melanie's point of view, and it's all the better for it. She is kind and thoughtful, sad when her fellow classmates go and don't come back, but after the facility she has been kept, (imprisoned in), gets overrun by hungries, driven and herded by non-infected humans that eke out an existence in the wild, she and her teacher, the lovely Miss Justineau, have to leave, and leave quickly.

Together, with two soldiers and the doctor who was about to cut her up, they must travel across mile upon mile of unfamiliar, untamed territory, to London, and this part, for me, was of particular interest, because they are heading south through Hertfordshire, (which is where I live), Barnet, and then through north London, which I know well.

As the story develops, Melanie earns her freedoms: first, her handcuffs are removed, then, she's aloud to remove her face mask and find food, feast, but we don't see that, we don't need to, because we know how hungries feed!

There's something else, too. Some of the hungries have died and sprouted what look like organic tentacles! Could this be part two of the virus? After all these years, could it be mutating into something else?

With food and water shortages, Melanie's need to feed, Sergeant Parks trying to get the power back on and fix up an abandoned armoured vehicle, along with doctor Caldwell still readying herself to kill Melanie, things look bleak, but then, then the kids come and . . .

No; no spoilers here, you'll have to read it to find out how it all ends, but suffice to say, this book has pace, intrigue, and is quite different to anything else I've read. I love the characters, even doctor Caldwell, who you dislike intensely, and the tension, the constant threat that the author builds, the feeling that someone, or something, is always watching, that our band of survivors are just one wrong turn from death - or worse, zombiehood - is profound and creepy.

This book was not what I was expecting, it's not a save the world, 'The Passage trilogy', kind of thing, it's more, I am Legend, creepy, which was a nice surprise, and so, with the hairs on the back of my neck still prickling, a thoroughly well-deserved four stars for, The Girl with all the Gifts.