Well, I've just finished this and it's hard to say what I thought of it. I didn't know anything about it before I got it out from the library, but I had seen it advertised everywhere. If I'd known what the plot was I probably wouldn't have bothered, which goes to show how good these challenges are - making me read different things. But in the end it was OK - 3 stars from me.

*SPOILERS SPOILERS*

The first 100 or so pages were excellent and I was really glad I'd chosen to read it. The suspense was great. By page 250 or so I was annoyed and wishing I hadn't chosen it! I've seen far too many movies with the 'virus in remote bit of the world that someone wants to use as a weapon but it wipes out humanity' storyline, and then to throw in vampires as well... For goodness sake... And one of the best characters was dead and we were suddenly way in the future. Not where I wanted the story to go.

Reading other reviews, a lot of people hated the diary bits, but I liked them. However, some of the other inserted bits were irritating as they were just confusing. And I HATED the post-apocalyptic language. It was like Mad Max or Waterworld. It took me ages to realise why everyone kept saying 'flyers', and it's only been 100 years so why not call children 'children' instead of Littles - ugh.

But it picked up again and by the end I was reading away desperate for a happy solution. It got really good for a bit with Lacey reappearing. And then it just stopped. What an awful ending! So many unanswered questions throughout the book - missing people, vanished villages, and what about patient Zero? Wasn't he a viral? Which would make it 13, not 12. Argh!

So to summarise, over hyped with an unoriginal storyline that got a bit too much in places. I feel the author got so carried away he forgot where he was going sometimes, and then storylines got forgotten and I forgot who was who and who was where. Too many characters that came and went and we never really got to know or identify with. It started off well, went downhill, picked up again and then just ended. It made me cross and frustrated, and it certainly wasn't scary, but I guess I am glad I read it. Apparently, it's one of a trilogy like everything these days. Will I read the next one? I suppose so - that ending was just so not an ending...

Edited to add... 2 days later and I'm still thinking about this and realising what a really good start it was and how frustrated I am that it just didn't live up to it. It's a long time since a book has made me so cross because it let itself down!