In the second volume of the trilogy, our POV character is Magnus McFall, a Scottish comedian trying to make the big time in London. Through a comedy of errors, he has been arrested, and is in jail when the Sweats hit London. Many in the jail, both prisoners and keepers, die, but for some reason Magnus and his cellmate Jeb seem immune and survive. Together, they escape the jail and try to make their way north through a devastated countryside populated with marauding gangs of survivors terrorizing and killing other survivors. Once again, the plot involves a murder.
This may not have been the best choice of reading materials during our own "plague times," but I read these three compulsively, one after the other. Louise Welsh is primarily a psychological thriller writer, and I've enjoyed a few of her books in the past. These just had that extra little pandemic element tossed in, and the pandemic in these books was so bad that we can feel a little bit fortunate, as bad as covid is. ( )

Death is a Welcome Guest by Louise Welsh is the second book in her Plague Times trilogy. As the author continues her story of a world wide pandemic that wipes out civilization as we know it, she turns her focus onto an entirely new character, Magnus McFall. The book opens in London where Magnus is an aspiring comedian but he steps into the way of a rapist, and get himself arrested and accused of the act. The disease called “the sweats” is just breaking out. It kills quickly and indiscriminately. Society ceases to exist but before Magnus can do anything, he and fellow inmate, Jeb, must break out of the jail they are locked in.

Magnus and Jeb head out of London and travel north. Magnus longing to return home to the Orkney Islands where he has family and hopes to find a safe haven. They experience a number of incidents on the road and take sanctuary in a country house with a group of survivors. Unfortunately, this just places them in more danger than before. Eventually they break away and Magnus is finally free to follow his heart to the Scottish Islands.

I am totally hooked on this trilogy and I am looking forward to the final episode. Although the first two books have followed two very different characters, by the end of this story the author has started to weave their stories together so I am eager to see what happens next. ( )

Magnus is a comedian who grew up in the Orkney islands and is now in London, where he's just gotten a big break opening for a much more famous comedian. The first night goes well, but on his way home he sees a man attempting to rape a drunk woman and intervenes. When the police show up, they arrest him; an unfortunate mistake, but one Magnus thinks can be quickly resolved, except that a pandemic hits while he's in a jail cell, which is not a great place to be when the people around you are dying. If he survives the virus and manages to get out, his plan is to make his way home, where he hopes his family is alive and waiting for him.

The second in Louise Welsh's trilogy about life during and after a deadly pandemic, this is really a stand-alone set in the same world as the first novel. Like the first novel, this one also centers on a mystery along with the struggle simply to survive. People are not necessarily who they say they are and sometimes they are a lot worse. And actions taken for the good of everyone sometimes do a great deal of harm. In the final pages, this novel ties to the first one and I'm very much looking forward to reading the final installation of this excellent series. ( )

I persisted with this book, but it read like a meandering mess.
I had read the previous story in the triptych of novels set in the UK after a worldwide pandemic, known as the Sweats, decimates the human population, and although it had been only moderately entertaining, I had enjoyed the author's style and the presentation of post-pandemic London. I was therefore looking forward to the opportunity for Welsh to up her game and create a better story.
The protagonist, Magnus McFall, is a mostly believable character and the novel starts tolerably well with an incident on the London tube (underground), a post performance party and McFall being mistakenly imprisoned after trying to assist a drunk. The Sweats happen whilst McFall is in prison awaiting a trial that never arrives due to the chaos caused by the pandemic, with McFall escaping prison as a lucky survivor.
unfortunately for me this is when the story starts to meander, just not developing, and it feels as if the author tried to leave the character to make his own story and then got bogged down in the attempt at a commune.
Welsh then finishes her story very quickly, with an open ending, as if she was up against a deadline.
A disappointing read, as there is some good writing, a mainly plausible central character and an interesting idea.

Although a much older book, I would suggest that if you would like to read something on this theme, you try The Death of Grass by John Christopher. ( )

One of my favourite books from earlier in the year was Louise Welsh's 'A Lovely Way to Burn', the first volume of her planned 'Plague Times' trilogy. This second instalment is more of a companion volume than a sequel, featuring on a new set of characters and giving a different and intriguing perspective of the descent into dystopia.

The principal character is Magnus McFall, a stand up comedian from the Orkneys who is on the cusp of breaking through into the big time. As the novel opens he is travelling by Tube to London's O2 stadium where he will be performing as warm up artist for a more established star. The news is already full of stories about a strange disease which is starting to take hold across the capital. Known as 'The Sweats', it manifests itself as a form of severe flu, and has been spreading through the city and beyond with great pace. McFall notices some likely sufferers on the Tube, and feels vague alarm at the prospect of being stuck underground with so many other people.

The show passes off fairly well but, following a bizarre yet utterly plausible series of circumstances, McFall finds himself out on the streets of Greenwich in the early hours of the morning, very drunk and without any money or his mobile phone. Drifting in and out of consciousness he suddenly finds himself witness to an attempted rape of a young woman. He intervenes and beats up the attacker, butis discovered with the unconscious and wounded woman and is mistaken for the attacker himself.

He is arrested, remanded and consigned to the 'vulnerable prisoners' wing of Pentonville Prison where he is paired with the mysterious and imposing Jeb Soames. Meanwhile the Sweats continue to wreak havoc, including within the prison where inmates and guards fall prey to its relentless grasp. Magnus and Jeb decide they have to escape, though that will be more easily said than done.

Welsh captures the horror of being trapped by the invisible but omnipresent disease excellently, as she did in the previous book. The disintegration of society is complete and precipitate, and Magnus and Jeb experience a succession of horrors as they venture abroad. She also manages to blend a variety of different literary genres - a prison story, a murder mystery and the overarching theme of the breakdown of society and the frail threads by which our humanity is retained.

I didn't feel quite as strongly bound to this novel as I did to 'A Lovely Way to Burn', but it was still very gripping and entertaining.
( )