Paul Tremblay’s “Survivor Song” begins with a shocking and equally heart-rending prelude (as he describes it) in a small Massachusetts town, in a house where the blinds have been completely drawn, the lights kept off, and cover taken inside. Inside, a pregnant Natalie and her husband Paul remain in lockdown mode. Something is happening across the country, something Natalie and others identify as a zombie-apocalypse. Although throughout the book, Tremblay clarifies through his characters that the antagonists are not zombies. They are those who have been infected by a deadly super strain of rabies, and the current time may not be the impending apocalypse. The virus began with animals, and then transferred to humans with equal results: high fever, blinding mania, murderous rage, and death within hours. Paul is less convinced and therefore less cautious than the expectant Natalie. Within their confines, they lightheartedly joke about the situation, until the unthinkable happens. After returning from a painstakingly difficult journey to the store, Paul is left to defend himself and his wife from an infected intruder. The man, in his rage, kills Paul. Natalie is left to defend herself, but not before the man bites her.
The prelude draws the reader in from the beginning, creating a solid anchoring through a whirlwind of a ride. “Survivor Song” will go down as another favorite by Tremblay. The book is fast-paced and filled with gripping horror and strange circumstances that once again, provoke the reader to think. It is a page-turner the reader does not put down.
Natalie escapes the terror that has taken over her home and asks the only person she knows who can possibly help her, her college friend, Ramola, a British pediatrician who moved to America to follow her dream of being a doctor. Through Ramola, the other main character, the reader has already learned the extent of the medical crises affecting hospitals and treatment plans as a result of the strange virus. She is about to report for round-the-clock work at the hospital when suddenly enlisted by her best friend for help, a pregnant friend who may be infected.
Ramola moves fast getting Natalie to the hospital, despite traffic jams and an overcrowded hospital where admittance is based upon whether or not one is infected. Natalie does not run a fever—not yet. Once inside, Natalie is administered a vaccine, all that can be done now is wait and pray. Soon, it is learned that Natalie needs an immediate C-section out of caution for the baby. But as the attending physician fails to arrive, pandemonium breaks out at the hospital. Ramola and Natalie must get to a clinic across town, but as they try, Tremblay presents the reader with gruesome, horrifying scenes he is best at, those that are both weird and scary.
After escaping the hospital, the two set forth on a journey to help a weakening Natalie. For her, time is running short. She records messages on a computer file to be read in the future by her child, a daughter she claims. After a mishap along the way, they meet up with Josh and Luis, two adolescent boys whose lives are defined by the movies that made them die-hard fans. They are self-proclaimed zombie hunters with past secrets Ramola hears hints of but is afraid to ask. Their attempts to get Natalie and Ramola to the clinic are stalled by a run in with more antagonists, conspiracy theorists who claim the government purposely exposed its inhabitants to the virus. They are scouting door-to-door, killing healthy animals and rabid humans in attempts to eradicate. They are the next cause of mayhem in the book, providing scenes of both horror and unforgettable shock.
But something has happened to Josh in this time. Now, time is just as vital for him as it is for Natalie. In the book’s Interlude, Josh and Luis retreat to the woods and stun the reader as their stories are more clearly revealed.
The long day’s journey finally leads Natalie and Ramola to an abandoned farmhouse. Now, there is no longer time. Natalie needs a C-section, and Ramola must perform it. She reluctantly agreed to adopt Natalie’s baby in the event of her death, a prospect that appears more and more inevitable. The final scene punches right in the gut as Ramola does what she has to, stopping the reader’s breath until the last words.
The book ends with a Postlude, one that surprises, as well as confirms Paul Tremblay’s proficiency in both horror and storytelling. “Survivor Song” is another great book by Tremblay and will sit well alongside “A Head Full of Ghosts,” “Disappearance at Devil’s Rock,” and “Cabin at the End of the World.”
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Survivor Song“Absolutely riveting. I haven’t been able to put it down." (Stephen King)Holy smokes! Can this book be made into a movie please?! I finished this book pretty quickly because I could not put it down. The similarities to what’s happening now with covid, were a bit eerie. The zombie feel this book had also brought me to my Walking Dead days, a show I LOVED!!! I highly recommend reading it, as long as you are okay with some gore, cause this book has a lot of it. I also loved the Rhode Island references since that is where I live, but it also hit close to home.A crazy rabies virus has broken out and is infecting animals in humans. The closer the bite to your brain, the faster the infection spreads. Once the rabies hit the brain, you start hallucinating and speaking crazy and ready to attack every and anything. The story starts by introducing us to Natalie who is very pregnant and waiting for her husband to come back with groceries. He is attacked and killed in front of her, but not before she is bitten. She escapes and travels to her best friend Rams who is a doctor. They are able to get to a hospital and get the vaccine but they aren’t sure if they got it for Natalie in time. They spend the rest of the book traveling to another hospital that is planning to do a c section and get the baby out. Natalie begins to show signs of infection and has Rams promise to take care of the baby. Rams does everything in her power to help Natalie. They come across many infected individuals on their journey. There was thrill, gore, laughs, sadness. I enjoyed the ending as well, although I would have enjoyed it even more if it had ended a different way. Which you will see if you read the book.This book is out today!!
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W.Fenlon
Well written but nothing special.
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