Max Austin’s sequel to his emotional bio-fictional memoir ‘How Can We Be Wrong?’
That Is What We Are. Spectrum Books, 2025.
Careful what you wish for, goes the old saying. And it’s actually true. When you are on the outside, and you see your desires like shining objects that, if yours, will make your life perfect, if you owned them, every problem will disappear. But once you cross the line and see past the shine and sparkle, you realise there is so much more than that, and what you desired with all your self won’t solve all your problems, nor will make your life perfect.
That’s exactly what happens to Max: after four years in his nurse leader position, he feels like his uniform is no longer a badge of honour, but rather a straight jacket. There are meetings and discussions and budget talks and things to take care of that actually push him away from being a nurse. He is not the only one to feel this way tough. George, Jack’s father, has finally left his wife and moved to London to look for a new life; Christian, Jack’s brother, and Carla are now married and expecting their first child; Danni is going line dancing with a stranger and Zuri and Simon are now the duo behind the counter at the Potters Arms. There might be some new faces in town, but the bottom line still remains the same: how difficult and fragile and messy it is to build a connection with others. Life goes on, whether we like it or not, and our characters move within it.
This second chapter of Max Austin’s bio-fiction is a delicate, ethereal ensemble of feelings, revelations and small miracles. While his first book was shedding a light on how challenging and consuming it was to come out as gay within the early 1990s, ‘That Is What We Are’ is all about how relationships take ages to be built and seconds to be destroyed. The whole book follows a somehow surreal, metaphysical approach, with the intention to appeal to and connect deeply with human emotions, rather than presenting a more “traditional” plot where a “hero” sets out on a journey to restore a disrupted status quo and find a new balance. While this might be slightly unsettling for some, it is also a reminder that writing as an art is subjective and, most importantly, transformative for both writer and reader. If reading about the life experiences Austin is wholeheartedly sharing – albeit fictionalised – can help even one single reader, then a book’s job is done. Embrace the transformative power of reading and give this book a chance.
Hank is a truck driver. He is driving to Sacramento on Route 50, also known as the loneliest road in America, when he is stopped by a policeman. There’s been some disappearances lately on Route 50, says the agent, so be careful. Hank doesn’t do much with the info, and continues his journey, but he is ahead of schedule and very tired, so he decides to stop at a motel for the night. Here he meets Malcom, another guest. They exchange a few words and share a beer. Nothing unusual for solo travellers who want some company. Eventually, Hank turns in for the night, but he is awakened a couple hours later by a loud thud and a faint female voice. As silly as it might sound, Hank knows the noise comes from beneath him. The problem is that beneath him there is only floorboards and the motel foundations. He looks for Malcom’s help and second opinion, but Malcom tells him that he is probably only hearing things, maybe the lack of sleep and so many hours alone on the road are tricking him. Hank is quite firm, though, and decides to give 911 a call. He hears the operator’s voice followed by a strong blow at the back of his head. When Hank wakes up, he is in a basement with a scantily clad and visibly worn out girl named Sara. She tells him that they are in Malcom’s basement, Malcom being the man behind the disappearances on Route 50. They soon realise they have to do all they can to buy some time and find a way to escape. And despite the grotesque situation, Hank, Sara and Malcom even get along, sharing small talk and meals. The only problem is: Malcom doesn’t like beef or lamb or pork, he prefers… more “unusual” flavours.
I have to admit that after a somehow “misleading” start, the novel takes a turn for the best and soon picks up a very good pace. I wasn’t totally sold on the truck driver, and even less by his imprisonment in a basement, but when the reason why Hank and Sara are locked in that basement becomes clear, the twist the story takes is mind-blowing. The characters are penned with sharpness and skill and the plot slowly but steadily unravels page after page with craftsmanship and shrewdness, driving the story to the highest peak it could possibly reach, before a relieving resolution. This is the perfect book for those already regretting the end of spooky season, a thriller with horror elements set in a basement (which gives the story an extra element of claustrophobia), it reads in very little time, the prose is flawless and so are the dialogues and the plot. A great book we highly recommend.
If you have a sibling, you have probably experienced the love-hate relationship that most siblings have. But they are part of your world, you grew up together, through the hard times and the good, and like it or not, the bond is solid, to the point you would do whatever it takes to protect them, even if it meant going to the other side of the world if they got lost. This is exactly what Ethan Willis, an 18 years old boy from England, does for his older sister, Charlotte: he packs his stuff and goes searching for his missing sister in Cambodia. When they were kids, Ethan worshipped his sister like no one else. She was the one holding the key to life’s toughest questions, and the corresponding aphoristic answers, that she wrote down on anything: her journal, mostly, but also pieces of scrap paper. She was everything and more for Ethan, until the day she wasn’t there anymore. Towards the end of her university years, Charlotte leaves for Cambodia, looking for herself, even though her parents weren’t exactly supportive of her decision. She was absolutely resolute in finding answers to very important questions, and it was vital that her parents didn’t interfere with her search by asking her to come back home. She did send them handwritten letters every now and then, but she kept in touch more regularly with her brother, emailing roughly every fortnight. At a certain point, though, these emails stop and while Ethan doesn’t immediately get concerned, when more days go by and there is no word from Charlotte, he knows something’s wrong. First thing he does is telling his parents, but it takes them a while to actually listen to him, a bit longer to inform the police and even longer to have Charlotte reported as a missing person. Hurt, concerned and confused, Ethan leaves for Cambodia himself, trying his best to piece together Charlotte’s movements. Last thing he knows is that she found an advert to teach English in an orphanage, an advert she noticed on a cafe window. There is only one problem: there is about a million of cafes with posters on their windows in Phnom Phen. Which one is the right one? Eventually Ethan will find it by a stroke of luck and, accompanied by a girl he met at the hostel he is staying at, he will trace back Charlotte’s steps. The journey he takes is both geographical, philosophical and spiritual, leading Ethan towards new knowledge, mindfulness and leaving him with even more questions than when he started.
‘The Journal’ is a touching, powerful coming-of-age novel with the power to transform you. Reading it will change you as much as Ethan’s journey from Cambodia to Thailand changed him: it will make you feel open and vulnerable but also strong and capable and ready for whatever life throws at you. The narrative is simply superb, the right balance of descriptions, dialogues and philosophy, with vivid characters that you would expect to find sitting on the sofa with you. It’s a book that forces you to re-evaluate all your convictions about life, no matter if you are 18 or 80, and decide for yourself what you actually want to keep with you and what you want to get rid of, from the comfort of your favourite reading spot. A book to read again and again and again, as if it was the first time.
It’s a new era, one where everything – from the calendar to clothing – are standardised. The Supreme Leader is the example to follow, while The Party is the organ responsible for implementing his decisions and preaching. His word is transmitted mainly through The Book, a document telling the tale of one man’s, Winston, victory over his own deviances. Each person is responsible to overcome their deviances, using the Book and other guidelines provided by The Party, but since no man is perfect and there is always room for improvement, there are some figures, known as deviance-guardians, who are responsible to check on the population and keep track of deviant behaviour. DV-8 is one of them. One day, DV-8 comes across a copy of The Book, and while he is turning the pages, he realises that there is an irregularity: the pages are thicker than they should be, and while he rubs one page in between his fingers, a secret in-print in between the regular text is revealed. It’s the work of The Resistance, a movement aiming to destroy the status quo. His flatmate, a girl called DV-9 who, just like him, is in charge of spotting and reporting any deviancy in the population, turns out to be part of the resistance. This is one of many plot-twists within the story, the most spectacular one right at the end.
‘Dave’s New World’ is a pleasant read, although not the most original. The numerous plot twists are probably the best part of it. The idea behind the book is full of potential, but unfortunately execution falls flat more often than not. We felt it lacked elements of the ‘good, old drama’, the one that creates conflict within a character, who is forced to choose between two contrasting things that are perceived as equal in value. Besides, being a dystopian novel along the lines of of ‘1984’ and ‘Brave New World’, it would have been useful to lead the readers inside the world’s conventions, dynamics, rules, architecture and so on. However, this is Richards’ debut novel and a commendable effort overall. The narrative is fluent and the prose is clean and expressive, leaving us with high hopes for any future endeavour. Definitely a story that deserves a chance.
Anger started billowing like a winter storm around crowd of us. We could feel it, smell it, taste it. It lifted us up and carried us.
Glossopdale, Derbyshire, 1570s.
Tasked by Queen Elizabeth I to look after Mary, former ‘Queen of Scots’ – her cousin and essentially her prisoner – Earl Shrewsbury’s finances are put under strain, this significant undertaking adding to already high household expenses and an overall challenging economic situation in rural England. For this reason, his Receiver William Dickenson tries to persuade him that rents need increasing across all his estate, which does not sit well with the people of Glossop: the extortionate new rates proposed would mean being unable to survive, let alone live with dignity. One man stands in the way of these controversial changes: ‘Black Harry’ Botham of Storth Farm. While he is well aware that the justice system won’t oppose these increases, given Lord Shrewsbury’s power and influence, he feels his and his fellow farmers’ grievances deserve to be heard, so he sets out for London – on foot – with other tenant farmers, determined to be heard by the Queen’s Privy Council. This huge undertaking will involve walking to the capital three times, in an ordeal that will last around seven years but will see them be granted fairer, more affordable rent increases:
[…] we ended up with rents as we could pay; and if what we’d done helped other folk in England get fair rents and all, well, happen we’d done God’s work while we were doing our own.
“Black Harry” is a delightful yet demanding read, a historical novel that is not for the faint-hearted. The story is told by two alternating narrators: Harry’s brother-in-law and close friend Tom ‘Spiderlegs’ Booth and William Dickenson. The change in narrator is paired with the use of a different language: while Tom speaks the vernacular – something the reader gets familiar with fairly quickly, to the point that it is no longer challenging to understand – and in first person, Dickenson speaks a more familiar English, his side of the story told in third person. While this could be considered a bold choice, it is totally in keeping with the ‘spirit’ of the book, to the point that one cannot help but wonder if Henderson deliberately sacrificed his potential for commercial success in favour of what appears to be essentially an ‘exercise in style’. The level of skill with which the author is able to give a voice to the concerns and challenges faced by ‘the common men’ around their living conditions is impressive. What is even more impressive is that this is done organically through dialogue alone: exposition does not belong to this book, something that makes it particularly special, as it prevents it from becoming a lengthy, pedantic lecture on Elizabethan England. Credit to Henderson for his extensive knowledge of this historical period (backed up by years of research, surely) and the huge amount of information on events, politics, culture, as well as beliefs and folklore he managed to pack in the book, also a sign of acute (and maybe ruthless?) editing, to create the best work possible. In terms of character development, I preferred Tom Booth and his child-like attitude and view of the world to Harry’s feisty and somehow ‘shady’ nature, which however does not take away from his remarkable achievements as a leader; Tom is his complete opposite (his faith in Harry unshakeable), the epitome of the ‘simple man’, but meant in the kindest way. The book contains a number of descriptive moments that are nothing but little gems, such as Tom’s thoughts when he is in front of the Privy Council for the first time and instead of concentrating on how crucial this moment is for him and his companions, he notices how, despite the council members’ higher position in society, they have ‘black teeth and foul breath’, while people like him, of a lower status, might be missing a few teeth, but they are white and healthy. There are no heroes or villains in Henderson’s recount, and the story maintains an enjoyable balance between historical accuracy and fictional aspects throughout.
If you are looking for an impeccably written historical novel, this book is for you. As a fan of the genre myself though, I advise you to take your time and enjoy the journey: this is not a book you should read in a weekend if you want to appreciate all its nuances. Do hold on to it for as long as it takes, it won’t disappoint.
A Novel By Feng Jicai(Translated by Olivia Milburn)
A looking-glass world, Sinoist Books, 2021
1900, China. The Qing Dynasty is still in power, but not for long, and China is subject to foreign domination, both from Western Countries, Christian Missions and the Japanese. It’s not an easy time for Chinese people, especially those who are simple farmers and fishermen. But it’s not any easier for the wealthier part of society either. The story is set in Tianjin, a small town south of Beijing, where commerce was good and the population lived well and in peace, the nearby Foreign Concession letting citizens carry on with their lives. During these really unsettling times, the Ouyang family is gong through a revolution of its own: Old Master Ouyang, owner of two large and prosperous paper shops in Tianjin, has retired following an accident that has left him walking with a cane. While he remains the owner of the two shops on paper, each will be looked after by one of his two sons, who will manage the day-to-day. Ouyang Zun, the older brother, is responsible for the overall business, while Ouyang Jue does his best to be useful and take practical decisions for his shop, such as how much paper to buy or making sure the books are balanced correctly. He is not a bad person, or a lazy one, but he has always focused on his calligraphy and poetry studies, rather than business and commerce, and this, despite all his efforts, doesn’t play in his favour. Both brothers are married, but none of them had children, and while Ouyang Zun’s marriage is not very happy, Ouyang Jue has a wonderful wife he can converse with about poetry and books and art. One day, however, Ouyang Jue meets Xénia, the daughter of a French commander at the local Foreign Concession. He is asked to escort the young, exotic lady around the city and show her interesting spots and marvels of the local territory. Since they don’t speak each other’s language, they are accompanied by Mr Ma, a common acquaintance who doubles as translator. Soon, they will no longer need Mr Ma to accompany them in their explorations, and the language barrier won’t be a problem anymore. After a flourishing and exciting beginning, their clandestine love-story will soon raise suspects, and will be made even more complicated by the political climate around them. The Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, also known as Boxers, since many of its members had practiced martial arts (at the time known as ‘Chinese boxing’), are gathering to fight against the foreign powers occupying their country, and Ouyang Jue and Xénia will get caught in the middle of a battle bigger than the two of them and their love.
In this modern take on Romeo and Juliet, we come across many layers: the Colonial era – and the subsequent battles for independence – forbidden romance, the dissolution of a family and its fortunes, patriotic spirit, the loss of love and mental sanity. It’s a compact book, but packed full of events and plot twists. I deeply appreciated how history-rich it is, events told with simplicity yet extreme accuracy, and the narrative is superb, also credit to what I think it’s an outstanding translation. This book was an amazing discovery, and I thoroughly recommend it, especially if historical fiction and Oriental literature are your thing. I also suggest you purchase the hard copy if you can, as the physical book itself is a joy for the eyes.
About the Author: Feng Jicai is a contemporary author, artist and cultural scholar who rose to prominence as a pioneer of Chinas Scar Literature movement that emerged after the Cultural Revolution.
About the Translator:Olivia Milburn is professor of Chinese language and literature at Seoul National University. She has authored several books on Chinese history and co-translated two spy novels by Mai Jia.
To buy a hard copy of the book, please visit Sinoist Books.
Once Upon a Time There Was a Man. Veneficia Publications, 2024.
‘Once Upon a Time There Was a Man’ by Peter Scholes is an ambitious, sprawling detective story with a missing person mystery that will keep you delightfully hooked til the very end.
Paul Brunskill is a private investigator stuck moving from job to job in a temporary lifestyle with no great future or commitments. He is good at tracking down errant lovers and family trees, but never really finds what he is truly looking for. When a wealthy benefactor gives Paul the task of finding Ernie Grimshaw – a man whose story becomes more and more remarkable as Paul’s journey progresses – his life takes an unexpected turn in more ways than one.
The attention to detail, plotting, setting and dialogue in this novel are all excellent. The story beds in slowly, helping you to get to know Paul and his current empty lifestyle, but soon picks up once he begins his search for Ernie. Stretching from Cumbria to New York and back, the locations and minutiae of Paul’s quest – the cups of tea, the biscuits, the breakfasts, the pints, and more – are lovingly detailed in a way that leaves you feeling as though you are right there with him.
The diary entry style works well, giving an insight into Paul’s inner thoughts, and it doesn’t feel contrived as a device to keep the story moving forwards; it allows us to grow as Paul does. There is a real, authentic feel to each of the characters in the novel, however small, and a warmth and sense of humour that sits finely balanced throughout.
There’s the odd moment when you think ‘how many lucky breaks can one P.I get?!’ but, honestly, I was enjoying the story so much that I really didn’t care.
Well drawn and tightly written, I thoroughly recommend this for those who love a good old-fashioned detective story with a delightful dose of intrigue, humour, and genuine, personal growth.
‘Once Upon a Time There Was a Man’ was originally self-published in 2021 and then re-released this year by indie publisher Veneficia Publications. It is available for purchase at:https://amzn.to/458lNvG
Book One of The Monsters Club Series by Lotte Jean Elliott
The Monsters Club. Northodox Press, 2022.
Junie Han has it all: born in a wealthy family that can afford the best private education, she is beautiful, smart, polite and funny; she is part of the right clique at school, has great grades and a bright future ahead. That’s not all, however: Junie also has a secret alter ego, the Queen of Coding, a dangerous, dark web hacker making a lot of money through high-stakes, illegal hacking jobs. This online persona is the real Junie: callous, reckless, scheming. She’s made this choice for a number of reasons: she feels that the world she inhabits is not for her, she finds her friends superficial and mean, she has no interest whatsoever in fulfilling her parents’ dream to go to Oxford just because they went there before her. To free herself from all this, every single penny she makes from her hacking activity goes into a private account, that she will use to provide for herself once in Tokyo. She’s planning on moving to the other side of the planet because her only true friend lives there, a guy named Yamazaki, a brilliant hacker she’s worked with many times, completing jobs and splitting rewards. They met through a hacker community that serves as meeting point for hackers around the world. A scoreboard ranks community members based on how many hacking jobs they’ve completed successfully, each job corresponding to a certain amount of points. Junie and Yamazaki are battling for first place in the chart, but their rivalry will take them to hack a very dangerous website, The Monsters Club, a forum where serial killers gloat over their latest killing and share the most sordid details. The creator of the website doesn’t react well to Junie’s interferences, to the point that what was limited to the online world quickly moves to the real-life space, with real consequences. As she gets closer and closer to danger, with her double life harder and harder to conceal, will Junie be able to stay safe? Or will someone she loves become the next victim posted on the Monsters Club’s website?
In this imaginative, ‘out of the box’ book, Elliott offers us an outstandingly conceived female main character – we like to think of it as a “Serena van der Woodsen (Gossip Girl) meets Lisbeth Salander (The Millenium Trilogy)” scenario. We (finally!) see a woman thriving in a world that is still male-dominated, where computer-loving girls with exceptional coding skills are looked at like unicorns; the dark world Junie inhabits is smartly intertwined with the girly-girl, wealthy teenage environment we have seen in mainstream tv-shows such as Elite, Young Royals or Riverdale. All of this with a thriller, high-adrenaline twist. The fact that the narrative is interspersed with screenshots of text messages and online chats makes the whole book more realistic and definitely engaging, and the series of events quickly leading to Junie’s complete destruction is imaginative, gripping and page-turning. We guarantee that once you start reading, you won’t be able to stop until the last, surprising plot-twist, that will leave you astonished and on the verge of tears – happy tears, though.
Better still, Chapter Two of the series is already out (review coming soon)!
“The fire in you is enough to save the whole world or else destroy it. The time will come to choose a side and what you do, that choice will decide everything.“
Caitlyn McCabe can see ghosts. And lots of them. She does not know where this gift (or curse) comes from. She does not know where she gets her double-coloured eyes from either, or who her mother is, her father having died when she was still a child. If this wasn’t overwhelming enough, she is also trying to navigate her young adult life, being bullied at school and considered a freak, except by young Danny, who is as out of the ordinary as she is (for different reasons).
Until, one day, a momentous encounter changes everything. Professor Sackimum Brody, a former colleague of her dad, takes her under his wing and introduces her to the multiple spirit realms hiding within the streets of Dublin, realms that are running much deeper that she could ever imagine. Professor Brody appears to know a lot about her family history too, a history that will gradually unravel as he guides her through the discovery of her true identity and mastery of her still unexpressed power. Straightforward plot of a classic Bildungsroman (with just a sprinkle of supernatural), right? Wrong!
Brace yourselves, dearest readers, for an adventure like no other, a perfectly constructed (under)world where three different realms overlap – humans above ground, spirits in the middle and a third concealed one, inhabited by the darkest, relentlessly evil creatures, who won’t give up until they conquer all, unafraid to leave destruction behind them. In all this, will our heroine Caitlyn be able to embrace her destiny and who she really is, as hard truths unfold in front of her?
From the first pages of ‘Banshee Rising’, I knew I was about to experience a great read, the seamless prose and richness of language embracing me from the very first lines; I just could not envisage fully how gripping this book would be. Riley Cain shows great ability in building up the narration slowly and patiently, crafting every single character, setting and scene to perfection, leading to a much awaited, final battle between Good and Evil. More specifically, the way he holds our hand and takes us through Caitlyn’s transformation from apprentice to leader is impressive, as is the cohort of supporting characters Cain has created to aid her in her quest, everything so vividly and masterfully described it is almost hard to believe.
I loved the fact that this book is as much a work of fantasy as a celebration of Irish mythology and folklore, and a ‘crash course’ for those who do not know anything about it (I must admit I had to consult the Internet a number of times to gain a better understanding of the mythological figures described). The most frustrating part as far as I am concerned – and it doesn’t have anything to do with Cain’s writing – was not having enough time in a day to read it all at once. ‘Banshee Rising’ is a book that deserves your undivided attention, best read in one or two sittings on quiet days, as this story will swallow you whole – I guarantee you won’t be able to think about anything else.
‘A single light’ is the continuation of ‘The line between’. We left Wynter, the main character, running away from Magnus and the cult he was the leader of, with the world on the brink of a lethal pandemic no one knows much of, except it’s deadly. Herself, Chase, her boyfriend, and Truly, her niece, found shelter in Noah’s underground silo, west of the city of Gurney. It’s now day 14 of the 180 days their permanence will actually last. The three of them, along with another group of 61 people, are literally locked in: on the double doors that lead in and out there is a computer timer that will not open until the countdown ends, not even if tampered with. In that case, it will probably not open at all.
Inside, Wynter became Winnie: this is the closest she can get to her real name without pronouncing it. They don’t know who might know something or not, and they can’t risk it.
In the bunker, the artificial lights are set to create the illusion of a passing day: there is the sunrise and the sunset, and a big, black screen that shows a starry night sky. It helps for a while, even if it displays always a bright, sunny June day, even when they are celebrating Christmas. At midnight precisely Noah appears on the screen. Since the door needed to be locked both from the inside and the outside at the same time, he was the one who got out. He now talks to his people from an office above surface. At 5.30 each day he records a message, that will be later broadcast to the people inside. But his latest video messages is cut short, and he appears to be leaving in a rush. The compound tries to find an explanation, decides to wait until the next day, and then grows impatient when, as midnight approaches, there is no sign of Noah.
Day 29, still no sign of Noah or the outside, while on the inside there is a raging war of speculations and different possible scenarios. The morale is low and the inhabitants, inevitably, start to panic and take it against each other. The tension is palpable, different people want different things, and the attempt of one of the guests to open the door while another guest tries to stop them, ends up with the death of one of them, Braden, reducing the number from 63 to 62. After a brief and summary process, it’s unanimously decided that Piper, the culprit deserved capital punishment. She is escorted inside the walk-in freezer and tied against a pole. But Jay, her husband, incapable of accepting the fate she chose for herself, gets into the freezer too. Only 60 people are now left in the silo.
Eventually, they find out about Wynter too. There is an article on someone’s phone, the last one before they locked themselves in, titled ‘MURDER SUSPECT DISAPPEARS WITH PROMISING RESEARCH’ but since there is no broadband, the image can’t be uploaded. They ask Truly, who confirms that yes, Winnie’s name is Wynter. It takes them a second to put two and two together and Wynter is sedated and locked in the pen that was built after the first of them died, to be used as a makeshift jail cell. Wynter is forced to tell her story – her life in the compound, how she escaped it thanks to the manipulations of her sister, who did it to save Truly, how she delivered the samples of the infected pigs’ brains to a vet, how she is escaping from justice but telling the truth. No one wants to believe she is innocent and that she means no harm. Chase gives his mates his phone and tells them to look at the pictures and some files he stored on them, proving Wynter is innocent. The reason why he knows is that he is a bounty hunter and his encounter with Wynter wasn’t casual at all.
The compound finally believes her, bus the fracture between Chase and Wynter is inevitable. It’s only fair that she starts to question all the things he said, including his profession of love. They settle for a polite co-existence, where they don’t speak to each other unless it’s strictly necessary.
The Open Day is closer, and they all start to make plans about how they will resume their lives outside, thinking what is expecting them out there and how to act when the doors open: will there be vaccines? Will it be a nuclear winter instead? A few days before the doors are supposed to open, an alarm starts ringing, and they all get worried. What’s happening? If the doors open before time who will cross them, friends or foes? They gather their weapons and wait. But when nothing happens, they decide to bolt into action and go out, forcing the doors open. It’s 3 in the morning in the outside world and four of them, including Wynter and Chase gear up to see what’s going on.
The first thing they notice is the absence of traces of Noah, or any of his neighbours. Chase and Winter set off to reach the nearest town, but along the way they only find desolation, not a single soul and spray-painted counts of victims in that particular house or church or if the place hosts infected people. It’s scary and disheartening, but they keep going. They eventually encounter Otto, a boy who, according to a message left by his dead father, is different but not bad. The only different thing about him, as they will soon discover, is the fact that he’s a mute, but he can actually interact with them, either by pointing at things or scribbling short messages on the notepad he carries around. They offer him to join them and he accepts. At a certain point Otto shows them a drawing he made of Noah. Otto is a local boy, and he knows about Noah and the silo. He’s also funny, smart and very sweet, and both Chase and Wynter take a liking to him, they kind of become a little family, until they cross a small gang dressed like vigilantes that shot him. As sad as it is, there is nothing left to do to save him and Chase and Wynter have to continue their journey.
It won’t be the last encounter they have with peril for the rest of the book, but eventually each problem will find its solution.
As in ‘The line between’, this book is packed with back to back action, plot twists, characters that we love and lose and amazing scenes that too often hit too close home. As Lee herself points out in the final acknowledgments, during the final edits of the book, her Nebraska home was hit by a bomb cyclone, delivering blizzards to the west and water to the east. As scary as the experience was, it did give her some writing material. As usual, her prose is neat and her dialogues witty, the pace is fast but never rushed and the characters are lovely, even though this instalment is perhaps a little less gripping that the other, probably because of the plot itself: the fact that Wynter and Chase spend more than half a book travelling, hiding and escaping chips away at complex descriptions and feelings. However, this book is yet another incredible page-turner, gripping from the first to the last page.
