... by Tyrell Johnson. I chose it randomly, and was surprised to find it so captivating I could not put it down. I did not expect to really get into the story, but checked it out with a couple of others and thought: 'you don't have to read it if it won't get started, just take it back', but I had to go to bed early last night to finish it - and was so alert when I got past the crisis, and to a satisfactory end, I was too wide awake to go to sleep!
Several reviews on the back cover made me think it would be somewhat similar to those movies made from novels that were designed to appeal to the younger, theater-going set. Compared to survival situations and characters in the 'Hunger Games' and other adventuresome post-apocalyptic tales, this one is set in the Yukon province of Canada where the family went to try to keep safe from a deadly flu virus. The lead character is a young adult in her twenties, Gwendolynn, who has been trained by her dad in outdoor skills: bow-hunting, fishing, survival know-how. Living a primitive, subsistence life in an isolated area with extended family in hand built log shelters.
The group is finds a wandering man, takes him in, feeds him, only to find he is being hunted by others who want him as proof they have the cure for the deadly virus. Gwen is taken captive, and forced to donate blood to someone who miraculously improves, demonstrating that Gwen also has this remarkable virus-proof strain. Gwen escapes, only to be chased by the scientists and their hired hands. The baddies are without redeeming features, vastly outnumber the her family, and descend on the isolated valley where they family live, determined to recapture Gwen and find that mysterious virus-proof man.
It would make a great movie, with lots of chase scenes, blood splashed across the screen numerous times, bad guys decimated in a variety of interesting ways. Plenty of action to keep you turning the pages, with the hope the human race will survive, and the planet might recover from the troubles we brought on ourselves.
I am sitting here typing this, while the television is on, running an adv for a flu-immunization. The whole premise of the novel was the government hoped to infect a population they wished to subjugate, and accidentally killed most of the inhabitants of the planet. It makes me a little uneasy as I consider the prospect of going to get immunized to prevent the suffering and days of misery that accompanies a case of influenza. Have not had the flu in many years, and do not relish the thought- but what is in that injection they say will prevent it?
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