Survivor Song

A Novel

By: Paul Tremblay

Narrated by: Erin Bennett

A propulsive and chillingly prescient novel of suspense and terror from the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts.

“Absolutely riveting.” (Stephen King)

In a matter of weeks, Massachusetts has been overrun by an insidious rabies-like virus that is spread by saliva. But unlike rabies, the disease has a terrifyingly short incubation period of an hour or less. Those infected quickly lose their minds and are driven to bite and infect as many others as they can before they inevitably succumb. Hospitals are inundated with the sick and dying, and hysteria has taken hold. To try to limit its spread, the commonwealth is under quarantine and curfew. But society is breaking down and the government's emergency protocols are faltering.

Dr. Ramola "Rams" Sherman, a soft-spoken pediatrician in her mid-30s, receives a frantic phone call from Natalie, a friend who is eight months pregnant. Natalie's husband has been killed - viciously attacked by an infected neighbor - and in a failed attempt to save him, Natalie, too, was bitten. Natalie's only chance of survival is to get to a hospital as quickly as possible to receive a rabies vaccine. The clock is ticking for her and for her unborn child.

Natalie’s fight for life becomes a desperate odyssey as she and Rams make their way through a hostile landscape filled with dangers beyond their worst nightmares - terrifying, strange, and sometimes deadly challenges that push them to the brink.

Paul Tremblay once again demonstrates his mastery in this chilling and all-too-plausible novel that will leave listeners gripped throughout the audio and shake them to their core.

©2020 Paul Tremblay (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

Heart-breaking Horror

Just got my pre-ordered copy and listened to it straight through. Another tear-stained white-
knuckle visit to the Tremblayverse. Brilliant!

No Heroes Here - Just Death

I loved this book. Like all of Paul Tremblay's books, he doesn't invest in a hero who sweeps into a horrible situation to save the day. This book is about ordinary people living through a zombie pandemic. They aren't heroes. In fact, I don't think there's a single gunshot in this book.

Instead, the protagonist is someone who cannot wrap her head around what is going on. Like a true human being, she constantly shifts through the Kubler-Ross 5-stages of grief, but only gets to acceptance once her fate is sealed.

Along the way, the hero and her co-protagonists make mistakes. They do stupid things that make perfect sense if zombies weren't real. Only in this book, they are.

It's a shining example of the bargaining and denial that permeates the human condition whenever it is faced with any sort of catastrophic, unthinkable event. It's why people argue about wearing masks and bring their AR-15s to the state capital to protest shutdowns. It's a realistic portrayal of how people cope without accepting the reality of the situation and a glimpse into the cognition of those characters that we as Zombie Fiction Fans love to hate.

Easy to listen to

Easy to listen to.. Entertaining and draws on our current environment. Narrator was very good.

The story is very dark

This story has a high literary quality, with many twists in the plot. It is not a “feel good” story, and is somewhat depressing. Overall, it was a good listen.

kind of meh

I started losing interest about halfway through and thought the ending was just okay. This was a basic pandemic story, it was stressful but not very scary.

Very good!

I love scary, chilling stories that get my blood running and even though this was very well written and preformed, it wasn’t scary... & only reason I didn’t give 5/5. I’m just reserving that score for a book that is considered a favorite (Which I still yet to find) I would recommend this book, for sure. I would even recommend any of Paul Tremblay’s books (since I’ve heard them all) I think he uses the same performer for his audiobooks and I really like her, it’s more believable hearing a woman doing a males voice than the other way around. Though it may not be my “favorite “ per say, it is definitely a very good book!

Foretelling, Heartbreaking, and a good look

Survivor Song is foretelling, heartbreaking, and a good look at society and mankind’s under heart and soul.

ok

narrator could have shown more emotion in reading but wasn't to bad seemed a little monotone

Surprised, I was disappointed

i heard lots of great reviews from big names, but this book wasn't that good. The book itself was way too wordy. i think the audiobook is longer than the actual time of the story. This would've been better if there was a bigger story over telling every little detail about everything.

A Novel Experiencing an Identity Crisis

What the ____ did I just read? Mere moments of traction in an otherwise out-of-control, tumbling, cartwheeling, car crash of a story.

I’m a fan of Trembley’s other work. I hope this is a rare miss in the author’s otherwise pretty solid catalog.