Karis Hylen has been through the New York City dating wringer. After years of failed relationships, she abandons her social life and whittles her days down to work and spending time with her dog, Zeke. Her self-imposed exile ends up saving her life when an untreatable virus sweeps the east coast, killing millions.
Alone in her apartment building, Karis survives with only Zeke, phone calls to her mom, and conversations with two young girls living across the courtyard. With the city in a state of martial law, violence and the smell of rotting corpses surround her every day. But her biggest enemy is her own mind. As cabin fever sets in, vivid hallucinations make her question her sanity.
In addition to her dwindling food and water stash, Karis must now struggle to keep her mind in check. When a mysterious man enters the scene, she hopes she can convince him to help her make it to the quarantine border. With the world crumbling around her, Karis discovers her inner strength but may find that she needs people after all.
I enjoyed reading this book. This apocalyptic tale had a great storyline and the plot developed at a good pace.
Karis was a great character. I liked the fact that she was middle aged and having a slight mid life crisis. She was strong willed and was able to do what needed to be done to survive. She was overly cautious and savvy. I also liked how it took a 12 year old to speak some sense into her.
I loved her relationship with Emma and Julia. Their little story in this book was just as good as Karis’s
I loved Ollie. Everything about him was great. Karis was lucky that she took a chance on him. I loved seeing their relationship developed, and ultimately, the ending was brilliant. I loved that once they met, he didn’t over power anything. They were both equal in surviving the situation.
Zeke was amazing, but then again, most pets are.
Her mum annoyed me a little. Yes she was worried, as most mums would be if that situation happened, but she was a little too over the top for my liking which was slightly annoying to read at times. So, yes I could see where she was coming from, but I also feel that it could have been toned down just a little.
The only other thing which I could have done without are the little North American words for things, but this is definitely coming from a British perspective. The story slowed down at a few points and but the brilliant character building did manage to keep the story going.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and would definitely recommend it. The virus was well thought out and the characters were too. It was a slow burn tale of survival which had a good storyline. The character building was faultless.
My rating: 4/5*
