A propulsive and chillingly prescient novel of suspense and terror from the Bram Stoker award–winning author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts.
“Absolutely riveting.” — Stephen King
In a matter of weeks, Massachusetts has been overrun by an insidious rabies-like virus that is spread by saliva. But unlike rabies, the disease has a terrifyingly short incubation period … unlike rabies, the disease has a terrifyingly short incubation period of an hour or less. Those infected quickly lose their minds and are driven to bite and infect as many others as they can before they inevitably succumb. Hospitals are inundated with the sick and dying, and hysteria has taken hold. To try to limit its spread, the commonwealth is under quarantine and curfew. But society is breaking down and the government’s emergency protocols are faltering.
Dr. Ramola “Rams” Sherman, a soft-spoken pediatrician in her mid-thirties, receives a frantic phone call from Natalie, a friend who is eight months pregnant. Natalie’s husband has been killed—viciously attacked by an infected neighbor—and in a failed attempt to save him, Natalie, too, was bitten. 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.
Natalie’s fight for life becomes a desperate odyssey as she and Rams make their way through a hostile landscape filled with dangers beyond their worst nightmares—terrifying, strange, and sometimes deadly challenges that push them to the brink.
Paul Tremblay once again demonstrates his mastery in this chilling and all-too-plausible novel that will leave readers racing through the pages . . . and shake them to their core.
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Thanks to NetGalley and to Titan Books for providing me an ARC copy of this novel that I freely chose to review.
I have read a number of glowing reviews of Tremblay’s novels and being a horror fan, I was eager to read one of his books. When I found this one was available for request and read the description, I requested it although wondering if, in the current situation, I’d dare to read it. Then I read a review of it by one of the reviewers of horror I trust and decided to take the plunge. I’m pleased to report it was the right decision.
The description does justice to the plot. This is one of those novels that seem to start with a big “What If” , and we have a clock ticking to ramp up the tension. The fact that the situation has become familiar and requires far less suspension of disbelief than it might have when it was written adds nuance to the story and also increases the chill factor. Yes, the details are different (there is a virus, but it is a variety of the rabies virus rather than a coronavirus, and therefore the illnesses are very different, thankfully), but the background situation and the consequences of the health emergency are eerily similar (lack of resources, lack of PPE, confusion, hospitals overwhelmed, lack of coordination, fake news, conspiracy theories, nay-sayers, heads of governments ignoring scientific advice…). Rather than going large, the author bring the crisis to a personal level, focusing on the story of two women, one British who emigrated and studied Medicine in the US, Ramola, or Rams, and the other, her best friend, Natalie, Nats, married and in the late stages of pregnancy. They shared an apartment while they were students, and although their lives have changed, they’ve kept in touch. Things go wrong very quickly, and Ramola is soon forced to make decisions that place her professional duty in the balance against her friendship. Would you put your duty to society before your friendship or your love for your family? This is a question many of us have probably wondered about, and many have been force to face for real in recent times.
The story turns into a nightmarish road trip where almost everything is against the protagonists. There are infected animals (and people) on their way, roadblocks and rogue patrols wandering the streets, and every time they seem to get a break, a new obstacle or delay makes survival more and more difficult. And, of course, we have the illness itself, which turns humans (and animals) into raging wild beasts.
I have mentioned some of the themes, and although this is a dystopian story that feels like reality at the moment (unfortunately, reality is looking grimmer than this novel’s scenario), and it does have much in common with zombie stories (no matter how insistent Rams is that the infected are not zombies, and, of course, they are not dead but ill, their behaviour is quite similar), it is also a story about friendship and the families we create. We have not only Ramola and Nathalie, who are like sisters, but also other characters (especially a couple of teenage boys, Luis and Josh, who are like brothers, share a dark secret, and whose story is given space as well). There is no lack of social commentary either: there is a strong indictment of the lack of training, of PPE, and of resources in general that hospitals and health providers have to contend with, and also support for the usefulness (indeed need) of vaccines and vaccination campaigns. (Tremblay explains at the end that his sister works at a small hospital and she gave him a lot of information. They make a great team). Although none of it is original, it does work well, and the focus on only a few characters makes it very compelling.
The story is written in the present tense (for the most part), in the third person, although the chapters alternate between the points of view of Natalie and Ramola in the three main parts of the novel. There are also a prelude, and interlude, and a postlude, which are told from a seemingly omniscient viewpoint, where the narrator provides a frame and a commentary on the story itself (we are told this is not a fairy tale, it is a song, and we are also given information about the larger scale of things, and even told about the future). My experience with present tense narration has not always been good, but I felt it worked well here, as it makes readers feel as if the story was taking place right now, and as the main narrative develops over a few hours, it does bring home the relativity of time, how two minutes can feel like two hours, or vice versa. The book has some lyrical passages, and it’s particularly strong when reflecting the way our minds can wander even at the most inconvenient moments, and how we all have our own protective mechanisms (telling ourselves stories, taking refuge on events from the past, fairy tales…). The author writes fluidly and he makes good use of the alternating points of view, and of other devices, like Facebook chat pages, the video diary Natalie is keeping for her child… This also provides variety and a bit of a break from the tension of the story.
I’ve read some reviews where people didn’t like the book because they didn’t like the main characters. It is true that because of the way the story is told, if you don’t connect with the two protagonists, I don’t think the story will work. We don’t know everything about the two characters straight away, as much is revealed through the novel, as they think about the past, about shared experiences, and also about the future. For me, the relationship between the two characters felt real. They often knew what the other person was thinking, they cared for each other and it was like reading or witnessing the interaction between two close friends, where not everything needs to be said, and there is a lot of background to the relationship that will not be evident to strangers. Being a doctor, I probably felt closer to Ramola and her difficult situation, but I enjoyed the story and I also got to like Luis and Josh (and some of the minor characters as well).
The ending… Well, if there wasn’t a postlude, the ending would be ambiguous but the postlude makes up for it, and we get a satisfying ending (if not particularly surprising). I confess I’m not a fan of happy endings for horror novels (or films), but this is not standard horror, and despite the warnings about this not being a fairy tale, I do think it reads like a fairy tale for adults (or a scary tale). And perhaps the ending is right for the times we are living. Let’s hope…
So, yes, I recommend this novel to fans of Tremblay, and to readers of horror or dystopian fiction in general. I’d advise readers to check a sample, in case the present tense narration doesn’t work for them, and if you prefer your stories big and your disasters of world proportions, this is not that kind of story. Although the focus is on a couple of characters (mostly), there is plenty of violence, blood and guts, so I wouldn’t recommend it to those who prefer their thrills to be subtle and understated. Also, if you are concerned about reading this story right in the middle of a pandemic and are very anxious about the news, I’d recommend waiting for a while before reading it, because it does hit very close to home. I look forward to reading more novels by this author.
It’s as if Tremblay looked into our Covid-laden future when he wrote this.
Paul Tremblay does it again. Another edge-of-your-seat page turner of a thriller. He manages to convey a heartwrenching realism to his work and that is present in this terrifying,heartbreaking, thrilling novel. Oh, and it also happens to be so prescient of what has happened in 2020 as to be freaky. Paul Tremblay is one of horror’s modern masters.
Paul Tremblay’s latest, Survivor Song, plunges the reader into a world not unlike the one we find ourselves in today, trapped by a deadly disease that we don’t understand and yet must deal with.
It is the perfect book for the moment.
It will take you deeper into what we’re going through, yes, but it will make you more compassionate for it. It will take you beyond your own bubble and make you see a pandemic through the eyes of others. For those of us—and that would be most of us—who don’t have to endure hospital ERs, where the real war on the pandemic is taking place, it will make that battleground terrifying crystal clear.
In addition to a well-done horror story, it’s also a terrific thriller. It starts off with a bang, presents a gut-wrenching dilemma, adds a remorselessly ticking clock, peopled it with characters you care about. The characters in Survivor Song are all well done. No tropes here. Tremblay’s also done his homework well, with just enough science to keep you grounded.
Intensely gripping, shocking, and raw, Survivor Song is a visceral ride through a couple of hours of a deadly disease outbreak. Tremblay pulls no punches, but you wouldn’t want him to u2060— his characters are real people, and it’s the brutal honesty that helps this terrifying song soar.
[F]resh and surprising. Survivor Song may be one of Tremblay’s best – beautifully detailed, viscerally frightening, and deep with emotional resonance.
Brutality spreads in this novel as swiftly as the wild epidemic Tremblay has invented. A daring, terrifying work packed with horror, but also with larger questions about what meaningful survival might be.
Packed full of emotion and suspense, Survivor Song is so gripping it may as well have been glued to my hands. Paul Tremblay is a master of modern horror.
I read Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay a couple of weeks ago and it has taken me a while to digest this book. Let me tell you up front that this book is not in my wheelhouse. One of the genres is Horror Fiction. I’ve never read anything in that genre before. So that being said, I probably won’t again. That doesn’t mean it was a bad book!
This book gave me nightmares! It is so vivid, my mind couldn’t let go of it. I guess you could say the author did his job. I just don’t like to be scared out of my wits. If you like Terror and Horror, you’re gonna love this book. It will be right up your alley especially while we are in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Maybe that is what bothered me so much.
Paul Tremblay did an awesome job scaring me! He will scare you too.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher for a fair and honest review.
“Survivor Song” is a fascinating horror tale, which draws several parallels with the Covid pandemic. And in it, the horror isn’t so much in the virus itself, but in people’s reactions to it. The further you read, the more familiar certain situations become. Out of an initial breakout, a devastating tale soon emerges: of mutual distrust, of race against the time, of science and disinformation, of cowardice and heroic actions of a few people. The plot is super dynamic, so don’t be surprised if you end up reading it in one sitting like I did. One of the most memorable stories I’ve read this year! Highly recommended to all fans of the genre.
Boring
Survivor Song manages to do something new with the zombie genre by focusing on one woman’s single-minded goal of getting her friend (and patient) to a safe place to deliver her unborn baby.
The lengths Ramola goes to, bending and out-right breaking rules in order to save this one life in the midst of chaos is relatable and worth following to the end.
With this novel, Paul Tremblay dips his toe into the pool of universe building by including unexpected characters from a previous novel.
Survivor Song by Paul Temblay is not my typical read, but sometimes it is good to mix things up. I am not sure if it was so much the book, or it is the Pandemic that we now find our self in that I never really could get into this book. I see so many awesome reviews for this book, but for me it just didn’t click. Having said that I always suggest to others to read the book for them self and make their own decisions on the book.
I received an ARC of the book from NetGalley and the publisher, and this is my fair and honest review.