The Hero Virus - Russell Dumper

‘The Hero Virus’ tells the thrilling story of Chris Taylor, who is hanging on to life by a thread.

Recently widowed, his only reason to carry on is his faithful Labrador, but even that doesn’t stop his willingness to gamble with death every day. When his companion suffers a violent demise, Taylor thinks he has nothing left to live for, until he discovers he has chanced upon a precious gift… he has become very ill.

The illness gives him special powers and, fairly soon, the authorities are swooping on to the ever-increasing list of cases. The Hero Virus might be different to other illnesses, but it’s no less dangerous. The effect it has on the world, though, is wildly different to any other virus that has come before. The unique reaction of the human body to infection means that everyone wants it. And some will do anything to get it.

How do you stop a pandemic when there are people who will kill for the virus? How do you stop people getting infected when they’re willing to die for it? How do you stop the infected when they have abilities nobody has ever seen before?

What did I think?

I was drawn to The Hero Virus as I do like my superhero films and this is like X-Men on steroids with mutations resulting from a viral infection.  It's a really interesting premise and you can't help but draw comparisons with the coronavirus pandemic with one huge difference: the hero virus is something that everyone wants to be infected with.

Widower Chris Taylor has suicidal thoughts every day as he puts a gun loaded with a single bullet to his mouth and presses the trigger.  The resulting click means he's not dying today and must get on with his empty life with just his dog for company.  When his dog dies from a mystery infection, Chris also becomes ill but rather than wake up weaker, he wakes up a LOT stronger.

As the virus spreads, the authorities try to contain the infection but the population want to get superpowers too and they will do anything to get infected.  It's gorey at times and the writing is very vivid so I did find my stomach clenching at some of the scenes.  It would be a fantastic film and it was almost like a film was playing in my head whilst I was reading the book.

Vividly written with an imaginative and original plot, The Hero Virus is a high-octane thriller that is packed with action.  It's a real page-turner with a jaw-dropping ending that made me actually gasp out loud.  I can't imagine anyone not enjoying this book, even if you think it's not your usual genre - give it a go!  Very highly recommended.

Many thanks to Russell Dumper for sending me a gifted paperback to read and review; this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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Maybe It's About Time - Neil Boss

Two people trapped in their different worlds. One by wealth and one by poverty. Twenty years working for The Firm has given Marcus Barlow everything he wants but has taken his soul in return. Finding a way to leave has become an obsession.

Claire Halford’s life hits rock bottom when she is caught stealing food from Tesco Express. Left alone by her husband with two small children and an STI, her suicide music is starting to play louder in her head.

A chance meeting brings them together. As a mystery virus from China starts to run riot across the country, their world’s collide and they find they have more in common than they knew.

Set in the early months of 2020, Maybe It’s About Time is a story about the difficulty of changing lives for the better. Starting as a funny and satirical view of the egocentric world of professional services, it gives way to a heart-warming story of an unlikely friendship that rejuvenates Marcus and Claire, giving them both hope for a better future.

 

What did I think?

Maybe It's About Time is a poignant and powerful novel set during the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020.  Although I'm sure none of us will ever forget this horrific time, it is brought back to life in a haunting and sensitive way through Neil Boss' carefully crafted writing.  Each chapter ends with the date and this simple but powerful sentence felt like a death knell; it gives me goose bumps just thinking about it now.

Marcus and Claire live completely different lives.  Marcus and has family want for nothing as Marcus has a well paid job in the city; a job that Marcus hates.  Claire's husband left her with two young children and her benefits don't provide enough money to feed them.  The stark contrast between wealth and poverty is disturbing but very sobering to read.  I feel incredibly fortunate that I've never had to worry about putting food on the table.

Marcus's work life really resonated with me as I was guilty of living to work rather than working to live in my last job.  I think if you've ever worked in an office you will appreciate Marcus's chapters more as I found it very entertaining.  I'm glad I wasn't working during the pandemic as I would have never got any work done for all the Zoom calls.

There are some very funny moments in the book that had me laughing out loud and the humour is very well balanced as it doesn't detract from the seriousness of the pandemic situation.  Even though I had an idea what was going to happen, it still brought a tear to my eye at the end.  There are a few unresolved parts of the story that have left it open for a sequel and I can't wait to read what happens next.

Haunting, emotive and compelling, I laughed and I cried whilst reading this beautifully written book.  It's an important and powerful novel that everyone should read and I really can't recommend it highly enough. 

I received a gifted paperback for the Love Books Tours readalong and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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BLOG TOUR: The Bad Neighbour - Jennie Ensor

In March 2020, the Covid pandemic hits the sleepy English village of Brampton. At the start of lockdown, local busybody Tara Sanderson sets up a community group to help vulnerable residents through the crisis. Elderly Elspeth Chambers, her longstanding neighbour and friend, accepts Tara’s offer to buy food and collect medicine for her.

But it isn’t long before neighbourliness and community spirit turn sour. Tensions arise when Tara becomes jealous of Elspeth’s emerging friendship with Ashley Khan, a recent arrival in Wilton Close.

Suspecting there is more to Tara’s hostility toward them than meets the eye, Ashley and Elspeth start to uncover their neighbour’s long-buried secrets, and realise that Tara is capable of almost anything...

 

What did I think?

I've been a fan of Jennie Ensor's books since I read her stunning debut, Blind Side, in 2016 and her fifth novel, The Bad Neighbour, is just as stunning.  Set during the Covid-19 pandemic, the reader is part of the Brampton community as they come to terms with lockdown and whilst the majority of people will do anything to help others, there's always one who will simply help themself.

It gave me chills reading about this dark time in our recent history and I relived the fear and confusion that many of us felt through the exquisite characters that Jennie Ensor has created.  The sense of community that we all saw in our own cities, towns and villages is portrayed beautifully but the plot darkens when one neighbour isn't as community minded as she appears.

Tara is a character that everyone will love to hate; she is so selfish, jealous, petty and scarily dangerous.  Tara gives the outward appearance that she is helping her elderly neighbour, Elspeth, but she doesn't want to do it for nothing and reading about her antics made my blood positively boil.  Just when you think she can't do anything worse...she outdoes herself.

Deliciously dark and hugely entertaining, The Bad Neighbour is a beautifully written, compelling read that I couldn't put down.  Filled with drama and tension, as well as a brilliant cast of characters, it would make a fantastic TV series.  I absolutely loved it!  Very highly recommended

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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Lockdown - Peter May

 

'They said that twenty-five percent of the population would catch the flu. Between seventy and eighty percent of them would die. He had been directly exposed to it, and the odds weren't good.'

A CITY IN QUARANTINE

London, the epicenter of a global pandemic, is a city in lockdown. Violence and civil disorder simmer. Martial law has been imposed. No-one is safe from the deadly virus that has already claimed thousands of victims. Health and emergency services are overwhelmed.

A MURDERED CHILD

At a building site for a temporary hospital, construction workers find a bag containing the rendered bones of a murdered child. A remorseless killer has been unleashed on the city; his mission is to take all measures necessary to prevent the bones from being identified.

A POWERFUL CONSPIRACY

D.I. Jack MacNeil, counting down the hours on his final day with the Met, is sent to investigate. His career is in ruins, his marriage over and his own family touched by the virus. Sinister forces are tracking his every move, prepared to kill again to conceal the truth. Which will stop him first - the virus or the killers?

Written over fifteen years ago, this prescient, suspenseful thriller is set against a backdrop of a capital city in quarantine, and explores human experience in the grip of a killer virus.

What did I think?

I bought Lockdown as a lockdown 2020 gift for my parents as they are both fans of Peter May.  I love the fact that Peter May wrote this book in 2005 but the publishers thought it was too unrealistic to publish whereas now it is all too realistic as we're living it.  There's actually a rather gruesome part of the book that I found to be a little unbelievable but it certainly wasn't anything to do with the depiction of the pandemic.

The main character of Jack MacNeil is having a bad final day at work: the discovery of a bag of bones have halted construction of a much needed hospital and once again Jack puts work before his family with devastating consequences.  How the story links together is nothing short of brilliant and I was on the edge of my seat throughout but I'll say no more as I don't want to release any plot spoilers in my review.

It's Peter May so it goes without saying that it's well-written but his ability to weave an engaging yet somewhat complex story is second-to-none.  The characters are believable and so incredibly flawed that you can't help rooting for them and the plot is simply breathtaking.  Of course, you can't help but compare and contrast this imaginary pandemic to our very real one but at the end of the day this is fiction and if I wanted to read a book about a real pandemic I would look in the non-fiction section.

It would have been an absolute tragedy for Lockdown to remain unpublished so if there's one good thing to result from the Coronavirus pandemic, this is it!  It's also a stark reminder to pay attention to that all-important work/life balance, which I think many of us have reassessed over the past 18 months.  Brilliant, gripping and stomach-churningly realistic, Lockdown is a must-read for thriller fans.

My rating:

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BLOG TOUR: Last One At The Party - Bethany Clift

THE END OF EVERYTHING WAS HER BEGINNING

It's December 2023 and the world as we know it has ended.

The human race has been wiped out by a virus called 6DM ('Six Days Maximum' - the longest you've got before your body destroys itself).

But somehow, in London, one woman is still alive. A woman who has spent her whole life compromising what she wants, hiding how she feels and desperately trying to fit in. A woman who is entirely unprepared to face a future on her own.

Now, with only an abandoned golden retriever for company, she must travel through burning cities, avoiding rotting corpses and ravenous rats on a final journey to discover if she really is the last surviving person on earth.

And with no one else to live for, who will she become now that she's completely alone?

What did I think?

Wow what a book!  I admit to being a bit scared to read Last One at the Party but whilst the 6DM virus is scary, the story is funny, hopeful and soul-searching.  Although I could have easily read this book in one sitting, I chose to read it over 3 days to fully experience and contemplate the extraordinary story.

With an unnamed protagonist who appears to be the only survivor of a global pandemic, the reader is taken on a literal and metaphorical journey as our heroine searches for survivors and learns the skills needed to keep herself alive.  Written in the form of a diary, we experience everything from the horrific impact of the virus to her hopes and fears, and even get to know more about her past through reminiscences.  

The writing is stunning and amazingly vivid and I think the solitary nature of the story made me visualise a Hitchcock style movie in my head, which I think is exactly what the author was going for as the filmmaker does get a mention later in the book.  Despite the subject matter, the writing is often surprisingly witty and I often found myself laughing out loud one minute and being covered in goosebumps the next.

Bethany Clift wrote Last One at the Party before the Covid-19 pandemic, however, she added in references to our current day pandemic when editing her debut novel.  I read this in the lovely letter to the reader that the author has included at the start of the book and it really helped to get myself in the right frame of mind before I started reading the story.  We often read to escape real life so reading a novel about a pandemic during a pandemic kind of defeats the object, however, although it does have some similarities to the Covid-19 pandemic it is ultimately a story of survival and one woman's incredible journey to find happiness in the simple things.

Don't be scared to read it, Last One at the Party is completely awesome and an absolute must read.  Although it's a real goosebump-frenzy kind of book it's also a humourous, hopeful and powerful read.  An incredibly impressive debut from an exceptionally talented new author and with film rights already having been sold to Ridley Scott, I can't wait to see this breathtaking novel brought to life on screen.

If you only read one book this year make sure it's Last One at the Party; this book is sure to be the biggest debut of 2021.  5 huge stars from me!

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ARC to read and review for the blog tour; this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon

About the author:

Bethany Clift is a graduate of the Northern Film School and has had projects in development with Eon and Film 4, as well as being a director of her own production company. Last One At The Party is her debut novel.

Social media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Beth_Clift

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beth_writes_stuff/ 

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