Unfortunately, that miniature apocalypse seemed all too real. Taking away the zombie tag and adding women, politics and science. Like Ramola says, they're not zombies. They're sick.

I might add more later. It's a thought provoking book. ( )

Paul Tremblay has done it again. The Bram Stoker award-winning author of The Cabin at the End of the World has written another suspenseful novel about survival . Instead of a crazy home invasion story, Survivor Song focuses on the spread of an insidious rabies-like virus overtaking New England. This virus has a short incubation time before the victim succumbs to feral and violent tendencies. The story centers on a woman named Natalie, who is eight months pregnant. When her husband is killed—viciously attacked by an infected neighbor—and in a failed attempt to save him, Natalie, too, is bitten, she calls the only person she knows who might be able to help her: Dr. Ramola "Rams" Sherman, a soft-spoken pediatrician in her mid-thirties, and one of her closest friends. Natalie's only chance of survival is to get to a hospital as quickly as possible to receive a rabies vaccine. The clock is ticking for her and for her unborn child. Can Dr. Ramola and Natalie make it in time? Will Natalie's child survive? You'll have to read to find out. Survivor Song is a harrowing journey through a ravaged New England landscape that resolves itself with one of the most memorable and slightly disturbing endings I've read in a long time. Survivor Song is ultimately about the persistence of the human spirit, the bonds of friendship, and the love of mother for her unborn child. Tremblay seems to have a knack for writing about familial bonds. Natalie is a wonderful character and is easy to empathize with. She's snarky and attempts to insert humor in a terrible situation. Throughout the story she records video entries to her unborn child, and these are easily some of the most touching passages of the story.

Reading this in the midst of the Covid-19 Pandemic was quite the experience. Tremblay has done his homework. He effectively paints a picture of a broken health care system (lacking PPE for dealing with a virus), the fear and misinformation that spreads when a virus is attacking, and the crazy Militias that attempt to take things in their control (all things we've seen happen throughout the past few months). Survivor Song is well-researched which makes the story all the more real and frightening.

Highly recommended. For fans of M.R. Carey or Stephen King. ( )

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay was quite the stressful read! The suspense and tension lasted from the opening scenes and didn’t let up until the very end. Massachusetts experiences a new rabies infection that is ultra-fast acting and spread through saliva. Residents are under a shelter in place order and hospitals are overrun with patients. Panic is strong and running wild through the communities. Natalie is eight-months pregnant when her husband, returning home from the grocery store, is attacked by an infected neighbor. Natalie tries to save her husband and is bitten in the struggle.

Natalie immediately calls her best friend, Ramola, who is a pediatrician for help. They must get Natalie to a hospital immediately to receive a rabies vaccine for any chance of survival. Sounds simple, right? Absolutely not, in the creative mind of Paul Tremblay. Anything that can wrong, does!

The pair embarks on the most unexpected journey, and they encounter people with varying world views. As they navigate each challenge they are faced, the two must also cope with the loss of Natalie’s husband, unknown future of their friendship, and the life of Natalie’s unborn child.

As Tremblay conveyed at the beginning of the book and its conclusion, this story is not a fairytale. This book is filled with suspense as Natalie and Ramola fight to get medical attention. It’s also filled with emotion as Natalie wonders whether she will live or die, and Ramola is torn with decisions that will affect the rest of her life.

Whew! I’m exhausted! Well done, Mr. Tremblay! I need to pick a lighter read for my next book. 😊

I borrowed this excellent audiobook from my local library through the Hoopla app. Narration by Erin Bennett was fantastic.

I have photos, videos, and additional information that I'm unable to include here. It can all be found on my blog, in the link below.
A Book And A Dog ( )

The novel was written two years ago yet it mirrors the current pandemic. The source of the virus is rabies. A thriller and road trip but little in the way of character development. A predictable ending including a disappointing epilogue. At times a torturous read because of the pain we are witnessing. I had hoped to come away with a lesson learned but unfortunately that didn’t happen. ( )

This is not a fairy tale. Certainly it is not one that has been sanitized, homogenized, or Disneyfied, bloodless in every possible sense of the word, beasts and human monsters defanged and claws clipped, the children safe and the children saved, the hard truths harvested from hard lives if not lost then obscured, and purposefully so.

This is not a fairy tale. This is a song.

Paul Tremblay is one of the leading contemporary writers of horror fiction. In Survivor Song he gives us his take on zombie stories. Except that this novel is not about zombies, but about an aggressive, rabies-like virus which is spreading in Massachusetts, turning humans and animals alike into aggressive beasts, before shutting their bodies down.

The novel starts with an adrenaline rush. Heavily-pregnant Natalie and her husband Paul are attacked by an infected neighbour. Paul dies in the scuffle. Natalie is bitten, but manages to narrowly escape her assailant. She calls her paediatrician-friend Dr Ramola “Rams” Sherman for help. The novel is a nail-biting “real time” account of the two women’s mission to get Natalie to hospital, in an attempt to save both mother and baby.

The narrative grips you in the very first pages, and never lets up. Rams, ever the scientist, keeps reminding Natalie (and others) that this is not “a zombie outbreak”. Yet Tremblay borrow many tropes from zombie fiction – the continuous sense of danger, the morphing of usually safe spaces into apocalyptic war-zones and, most poignantly of all, the pain of seeing loved ones turning into deadly monsters.

The continuous action does not leave much opportunity for profound character development, but in a few deft brushstrokes, we are given enough information about the two female protagonists to make us readers care for them. Tremblay does not shy away from visceral, in-your-face horror (there are a couple of gut-wrenching scenes). Yet, what struck me in Survivor Song is its sense of humanity, exemplified by the deep friendship between Natalie and Ramola, and the maternal love of Natalie towards her unborn child.

The novel comes across as a very timely one and it’s hard to believe that it was written prior to Covid-19’s global takeover. I am not suggesting that the rabies-like outbreak is anything like Covid-19. It is more horrific yet, ironically, less insidious. Unlike the novel coronavirus, its deadly effects are so obvious and immediately apparent that no one in their right mind would brush it off as “just a new sort of flu”. Despite the differences, there are some uncanny parallels between the world in Survivor Song and what the world has gone through and is still experiencing – the “lockdown”, the constant fear of infection, the sense of uncertainty about the future, the stupidity of some leaders who should know better, the unbridled egoism of certain individuals (a misguided “survival instinct”?), and, on a more positive note, the flowering of humanity and generosity in moments and places where one would least expect them.

Survivor Song is not a fairy tale. Indeed, the apocalyptic scenario it portrays may be closer to reality than we are willing to admit. ( )