Narrator: Erin Bennett 3/5 stars
Story overall 4/5

In Boston, Massachusetts, a developed form of the rabies virus is affecting animals and being passed onto humans with an alarming incubation rate. When 8-months pregnant Natalie witnesses her husband killed by an infected person, and is bitten herself, she turns to her best friend Ramola to save her and her baby before the virus takes hold. What happens next is an intense race against time for the two women.

I really enjoyed this book, and my enjoyment of it surprised me as I had seen some reviews that weren't so complimentary. This is my first Paul Tremblay book and this may have worked to my advantage as I went into this story with little to no expectations of what to expect. I also love any form of media that focuses on a zombie-like virus - particularly books - obviously, and this take on the virus was done really well and was probably the most realistic form such a virus could potentially take in our own society.

It's definitely eerie reading about the start of a pandemic during an actual pandemic and for those who might have Covid-anxiety - you may want to give this book a miss for a while. The talks of government mandated quarantine, queues outside pharmacies and grocery stores and hospitals stretched to breaking point was very familiar indeed. In fact, I actually felt emotional at one point in this book thinking about health care workers who strive to look after everyone at the risk of their own health during such pandemics.

I really recommend this book via audiobook as I think the pace and intensity of the story lends itself really well to such a format. The story is truly a race against time as neither the readers nor characters know if Natalie will succumb to the virus, and if she and her unborn baby will survive. I found myself really looking forward to going out for my walks just so I could listen to more of this story and I finished it really quickly (audiobooks normally take me longer to read).