Publisher: Ballantine Books

Publication Date: January 31, 2023

Length: 352 pages

I received this book from the publisher.

An outbreak of a deadly disease has ravaged the world. People have gone into hiding. If you need money, you can volunteer to help test cures developed by “The Professor”, the only scientist that seems close to discovering the remedy. This story is told by three groups of people with converging paths. There are eerie similarities to what we experienced with the Covid pandemic. Civilization has crumbled and the elements of life such as food production, farming, and grocery stores are a thing of the past. People have to scavenge for canned food or for wildlife to sustain themselves. Some products are available on the black market for trade. The precious few that own generators have electricity if they have a fuel source but it is not available everywhere.

Each of our three groups has trouble. The group located at the Retreat struggles with following their self-appointed leader. Their supplies are dwindling and it is hard to gather them from town in the winter. Some of the group have decided to try life in the wild. Will they be able to survive or will they catch the dreaded disease? The group stuck on the cable car was traveling to the Retreat but a power outage stranded them on the cable high above the ground. They can see where they were supposed to dock but the power is out and for how long? Will they be rescued? The final group is stuck in a crashed, overturned transportation vehicle waiting to be rescued. They too were traveling to the Retreat. Many have died from the wreck, a few are lingering. Of the survivors, some are showing signs of having the virus. Will they be rescued before becoming sick?

Each of these groups has one element in common and that commonality doesn’t become apparent until later stages of the story. Things begin to fall into place once the commonality becomes clear. This book shows human behavior and how we react to stress and trauma. How would you react if you were in this situation? There are twists and turns galore in this apocalyptic tale. I suspected some of the surprises but there were others that I did not anticipate which always makes reading fun.

This book really hits home since we have all come through a trying time with the Covid pandemic. As we experienced, there are people that are kind and those that see this as an opportunity for profit. In this novel, some people’s actions are horrific. Panic and fear seem to bring out our worst behavior and the characters in this book vividly demonstrate it. I would recommend this book to book clubs because there is much to discuss.

My Rating: 🌻🌻🌻🌻/5