| Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay; Devolution by Max Brooks review – tales of apocalypse |
[24 Jun 2020|06:30am] |
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https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jun/24/survivor-song-by-paul-tremblay-devolution-by-max-brooks-review-tales-of-apocalypse A new strain of rabies makes the jump to human transmission and Bigfoot attacks … two prophetic visions of crisis and isolation offer terror, resilience - and hope The horror genre offers a frame of reference for global pandemic, however unsettling. In the early weeks of the outbreak Contagion leapt to the top of the most-streamed movie lists, Reddit and Twitter were aflame with claims that a Dean Koontz novel had “predicted” Covid-19, and comparisons to Stephen King’s 1978 disasterpiece, The Stand, were so frequent that the author himself felt the need to apologise for 2020. If the master of horror is feeling troubled, spare a thought for authors introducing new fictional crises into this uneasy summer. Depending on your appetite for plague fiction, the timing of Paul Tremblay’s Survivor Song is either excellent or appalling. In Massachusetts a new strain of rabies has made the jump to human transmission. Symptoms appear within hours of infection, making the infected homicidal and shattering the social infrastructure. In the chaos of the early outbreak we are introduced to the heavily pregnant Natalie, moments before her husband is killed and she herself is bitten. From here we follow Natalie and her paediatrician, Ramola, in their search for medical help. Continue reading...
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