Joe Beernink is a Canadian who now lives in Seattle. We won't hold that against him because he has reached back into his Canadian upbringing to write a post-apocalyptic novel set in Northern Manitoba that seems (to this southern Manitoban) to be quite realistic.

A deadly influenza virus has killed the majority of people living in Thompson Manitoba. Sisters Izzy and Angie survived the virus but their parents did not. Their next-door neighbour took them in but she died soon after. Her ex-husband, Rick, takes the two young girls under his wing. They leave Thompson for a while hoping to find some salvation farther south but soon realize that everywhere else is a devastated by the epidemic as Thompson was. Back in Thompson roving gangs make living there unsafe. One of the gangs catches Angie but Izzy manages to flee. Rick, who had been out hunting, comes back just in time and kills the men but not in time to rescue Angie. He takes Izzy to a remote cabin which is their shelter for the bitter northern winter. Rick is not the benevolent saviour that Izzy thought he was; he rapes the thirteen year old girl and physically abuses her when she angers him for any little infraction. Even farther north, Jake and his family who went for a brief vacation before the virus hit to a fly-in lake where they had a cabin know nothing about the pandemic. When the pilot did not return for them Jake's father decided to go alone in his canoe to get help. Jake stayed behind to look after his mother, who had developed a bad infection from a cut, and his elderly grandfather. Jake's father never returned and his mother and grandfather died. Jake, well-schooled in bush lore by his father and grandfather, took his canoe to go south in the hopes of finding his father. Both Izzy and Jake have to survive the elements, the wild animals, the difficult terrain and a human who has all the hallmarks of a psychopath.

This book is classified as young adult literature but even this senior found it gripping. In the author's note Beernink admits that he has not been in the area described in the book. I am not familiar with the land north of Thompson but his descriptions can't be that far off. Beernink would like to hear from local residents so if anyone reading this review knows more about the area let the author know what you think. ( )