BelEdit Book Reviews
I appreciated the opportunity to read an ARC of Night Plague.
The premise is interesting: an outbreak of an infectious illness characterised by insomnia and increasing anger, depression and aggression, spreading through a small town. I also found myself nodding as Kris outlined her theories about the correlations between poor sleep and various ailments: suspension of disbelief is always easier in speculative fiction when there’s a satisfactory bridge between the speculation and reality. So far so good.
I was less impressed by the writing. It was, frankly, like watching someone at work. Boring, repetitive interviews that moved the story along at a glacial pace, summaries of findings so far that felt like reading someone’s work emails, interspersed with some violent scenes that barely made the main characters break stride. Nearly all the focus was on the investigation, not the impact on families; as a result, it was hard to care about the affected people. Too much gun porn, two-dimensional characters and unconvincing, frequently saccharine, dialogue. And too much GRATUITOUS religion with, especially in the final third of the novel, scenes being interrupted by people praying together. Eeeuw. The last scene is basically a church service that I skipped through. Finally, the resolution was underwhelming, to say the least.
Overall, I’d give it: 3* for the story, minus a star for the writing, and minus a star for the religion.
This might appeal to people who live in a small town in the US and who can identify somewhat with the scenes and characters, and who aren’t turned off by guns and religion. But it doesn’t have that ‘this could happen to me!’ sense of universality that ‘outbreak’ stories need if they are to have impact.
You may prefer:
Ministry for the Future – Kim Stanley Robinson
When the lights go out – Carys Bray
My thanks to the publisher, the author and Netgalley for giving me a free copy of this book. All my reviews are 100% honest and unbiased, regardless of how I acquire the book.