Black River Falls

by Jeff Hirsch

Seventeen-year-old Cardinal has escaped the virus that ravaged his town, leaving its victims alive but without their memories. He chooses to remain in the quarantined zone, caring for a group of orphaned kids in a mountain camp with the help of the former brutal school bully, now transformed by the virus into his best friend. But then a strong-willed and mysterious young woman appears, and the closed-off world Cardinal has created begins to crumble.

A thrilling, fast-paced work of speculative fiction for teens, from a bestselling author, Black River Falls is an unforgettable story about survival, identity, and family.

Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Teen, Fiction, Survival, Mystery

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 5, 2016

About the author

Here are some things about me.

I live in an extremely Brazilian section of an extremely Greek neighborhood—Astoria, Queens, which is just to the right of Manhattan. (That's as you face Manhattan. If you were, say, lying on your back in the middle of Central Park with your head in a northerly position, we would be to your left) I live there with my wife who has a blog and our two cats who do not. One day I hope to have a very large dog that I can name Jerry Lee Lewis.

I used to write plays (I actually have an MFA in it, which is currently number 8 on US News and World Report's annual list of the top twenty most useless masters degrees) and now I write books for teens. I've written two. One was about a girl who wanted to be a rock star and could graciously be called a learning experience.

The second, is The Eleventh Plague and it comes out Sept. 1, a fact I still find pretty amazing.

Reviews

[Cynthia (Bingeing On Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this ARC from Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

This one was a bit of a letdown. The premise sounded awesome: a town under quarantine because of mysterious illness that wipes away your memory, a mysterious girl . . . it sounded very exciting. The problem was that everything was just blah. I have been saying that about a lot of books lately. Maybe it's them or maybe it's me. Who knows?

First of all, the mysterious girl didn't really move the plot along like the premise would suggest. She was just a girl who showed up and didn't know who she was. Join the club. That was pretty much everyone in town. There was some mystery about how she got to the town or why she was there, but it wasn't super exciting, especially when the author never revealed that information. She was just a girl for the main character (Card) to crush on.

The entire book is basically a letter that Card is writing to his brother, Tennant. I think the problem with this book was that the pacing was so slow and there wasn't much of a plot for the first half of the book. Card looks after this group of kids who live on top of the mountain, separate from the rest of the town. Card has not been infected with the virus so he remembers how bad things got when people lost their memories. Greer is his friend and is infected. Greer is an ex bully who now looks after quite a few of the kids from town who have no family to speak of. Card spends his time not doing much of anything really. I still don't understand his role. They all lived at the top of the mountain, apart from the rest of the town. Card wears a mask and gloves to try and prevent infection and he also spends as little time as possible around Greer and the kids. He keeps himself at a distance from everyone else and spends his time chopping wood or just sitting. Sounds kind of boring, right? It was. I can imagine that the worst thing in the world would be for your parents to completely forget you or for you to forget them. For half of the book, it seems like Card kept obsessing over this fact. When he wasn't obsessing over his mom (who had no memory of him), he was yelling at poor Greer and Hannah (the mysterious girl) for not taking the virus seriously enough.

A little more than halfway through, the plot and the action starts picking up. The second half focuses on the National Guard pulling out of the town and a new security firm taking over. There was some more explanation about the virus and how it started, but the problem was that this information wasn't given nearly enough attention. I liked the conclusion; I just wish there had been more around the virus and what caused it and even more discord between the citizens and the government. But the whole walking around and moping thing wasn't cutting it for me. In the end, this one did not live up to the premise.

[Jamie (Books and Ladders) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Well, that was a little disappointing. This book and I got off on the wrong foot from the beginning and it picked up a bit but then crashed back down. I thought the premise was so interesting but the execution was lacking SOMETHING (like a more defined plot). I would suggest this one to people who don't mind following someone around without much purpose.

I requested this one based on premise because hello, science fiction, virus, mysterious girl who shakes things up!! but none of those things really mattered in the grand scheme of things? It was more about how Cardinal lived now? And I mean, that would have been interesting if he wasn't such a Debbie Downer and actually did things. But he wandered and didn't interact with too many people because he didn't want to get infected. It was just a bit of an awkward story because it felt like the plot of figuring out what caused the virus and finding a cure were vastly overshadowed by Card just moping. I wanted him to be more active in helping people and stuff since that is how the story STARTED, but he kinda just became a hermit.

I also anticipated there would be more about the girl, whose name in the story is Hannah. She comes in and it "changes" things, according to the premise, but really she is just another addition to the story served to be Card's love interest. She doesn't even have an interesting story when I thought she would feature heavily. Like there is mystery surrounding her presence but it dwindles after like 20 pages of her being on screen so it was a bit disappointing.

I had a hard time connecting to the story at the beginning because of how it was written (as a letter to ME who is actually Card's brother Tennant) because until around 50% of the novel, I had no emotional connection to Card so I felt really disconnected from the story. It was difficult because there were stories about their (our?) shared past being told in this story but because I had no connection to them and had no idea what they were, they just clogged up the story for me until the night of the 16th was discussed. I also didn't like that there were some like dream sequences? thrown in because I had a hard time figuring out what was really happening and what Cardinal was just imagining happening.

I liked the conclusion though! I would have liked more from this conclusion and storyline because I think it was really interesting. The plot that should have been (i.e. virus and cure discussion) happened in like 20 pages. The last 20 pages. I feel like there was way too much time spent on Cardinal being whiny and not enough time spent on Cardinal DOING something so he wouldn't be as whiny anymore.

Overall, interesting premise but lack of execution really ruined this for me. As well, I was hoping for more discussion about the virus rather than the brief snippets we got about it. It seemed like this book was a mish-mash of three different ideas that didn't perfectly overlap. And that makes me sad.

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[Sara (A Gingerly Review) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to come soon during the blog tour.

[Christa Maurice · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really enjoyed it until the end. I had to suspend disbelief in how the quarantine was enacted (i.e. backward-the healthy were removed and the sick were left behind), but once I got past that I was really enjoying it…

Until the end when the wheels really fell off. The last chapter made no sense. Property issues were just dropped even though that was one of the main drivers to move the amnesiacs out of the town. The main character was just going to "take over" his father's ongoing series and suddenly take it to Marvel. Where was the previous publisher? Where was the rest of the creative team? Was his father writing, penciling, inking, lettering, and coloring this book? The nuts and bolt of this comic book his father created make no sense. Honestly, the whole last chapter was like a dream sequence that the kid was having as he starved to death on the mountain.

And it was going so well.

[Nathaniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very excited to read this book. I got it for a couple dollars and it revolves around a setting that appeals to me a lot. The reviews were very eh so I wasn’t sure if I would like it but this story was so full of heart that I couldn’t help falling in love. Amazing characters, heartbreaking flashbacks, and a strong plot all pulled together in this book. I can’t wait to read more from this author.

[Shae · Rating 3 out of 5]

That, my friends, was a treat. I love books that dig into memory and identity. Such books are usually tinged bittersweet, and this one is no exception. I think the way Card, Greer, Hannah, and the others grapple with reconciling the before and the after works well. There are some nods to the typical tropes--big bad corporation with obvious ill intent, the fight to stay free, etc.--but most of those are glossed over in order to dig into Card's interior life. I'm okay with this choice, honestly, even if it tips the story away from "gripping" and into "introspective."

I must note that the world-building was interesting but shaky at best. Little about the virus made sense. It's compared to the fly but the infected remain infectious months and months after their memories are wiped, yet are capable of forming new and permanent memories and identities. Either the infection is still active, in which case they should be wiped clean regularly, or it has run its course and is no longer an issue, in which case the uninfected like Card and the rest of the world should be fine. The utter breakdown of society and the family structure doesn't make much sense either, in my opinion. Initial chaos is to be expected, but I would expect families to stick together out of duty at the very least. And if muscle/operational memory remains intact, then certain professions should be able to carry on with only a slight initial hitch.

World-building is important to me, which is why I note these concerns, but overall this was an engaging, thoughtful read, with characters I could truly root for. (All the bonus points for an African-American protagonist!)

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was yet another book I read for a book club I'm in, and I went in fairly blind, not bothering to read the back cover or a plot synopsis before beginning. I listened to the audio book for this one, and the narrator did a great job of hooking me into the story right away. I generally enjoy dystopian novels, so I knew I was in for a treat when I learned this was about the fallout from a mysterious memory-wiping disease. The premise was really intriguing, and I also loved how surreal and ambiguous many parts of this book were. It became downright unsettling at times, and I really enjoyed slowly unraveling the mystery of the disease as the book went on.

Black River Falls focuses on a seventeen-year-old boy named Cardinal Cassidy, who is the last member of his family to escape unscathed after a mysterious memory-wiping disease took hold of his town. Black River, the town his family recently moved to, is Ground Zero for Lassiter's Disease, a mysterious illness that takes away memory. At the beginning of the novel, Cardinal has spent six months camping out in the wilderness with his new best friend and a band of orphaned misfit children.

Though he has been around these infected children for months, Cardinal himself has remained unscathed by the virus. Everything changes when a girl with green hair arrives, and a private corporation replaces the National Guard in town. Cardinal soon finds himself at the center of this mysterious situation, slowly uncovering the town's buried secrets as he fights to reclaim his own identity.

The most interesting thing about this book from the beginning is that it is written in second person, as Cardinal is writing letters to his missing brother Tennant. He addresses every chapter as if you are his brother reading this story, which is a very unique way to go about the narrative. It is also rare to see a male protagonist in YA, as so many YA novels in recent times have featured female heroes. Because of this, I think this book has broad appeal for both girls and boys.

Another intriguing element of the book is Cardinal's past, and how it is slowly pieced together as the story progresses. We learn that his mother was a dancer, and that his dad was a best-selling comic book writer. Throughout the story, Cardinal often refers to his father's comics, and even sometimes imagines the main character (whom he was named after) in the room with him. These moments felt very surreal, and I often found myself wondering whether or not Cardinal was aware that he was hallucinating, or if these conversations were happening in his head.

The relationships in this novel were also great, from Card and his mother to Card and his newly found friend Greer. I thought it was really interesting to see how his former bully became his best friend, and how losing your memory can fundamentally change who you are as a person. To that effect, I was insanely curious to know why Hannah would've intentionally erased her own memory, and I'm a little bummed that we never found out. It seems like yet another instance where the author didn't want to hand-hold, but I wanted more of Hannah and felt like the narrative excluded her a little bit.

My only other gripe with the book was the VERY open ending, which left me wanting more. Sometimes I enjoy having to fill in the blanks for myself, but with this ending I really wanted to know what would happen next. It seemed obvious that he had changed his mind about erasing his memory, but I wanted to know whether or not he reunited with Hannah and the kids. I also wanted to know if he ever came clean to his mother, as I felt she at least deserved to know that she had a living son out in the world somewhere.

The parallels to the comic were also really interesting, with the story becoming darker and darker as Card's dad spirals into depression and becomes a different person. I loved that Cardinal chose to continue the story and end it on a happier note after he discovered the original ending, and that he got his comic writing friend Gonzalez to do it for him. I thought that was a nice book-end to the conversations they had about portfolios and the future, and it gave the book a more hopeful feel overall. I also like that Cardinal was a parallel to the character in the comics, with his lowest moments coinciding with what is happening to Cardinal in the narrative. That made the hopeful moments at the end even more powerful for me, and I liked the metaphor of it.

Lastly, I wanted to know if a cure had been found, and if so which of the kids would've chosen to take it. Somehow I doubt Card's mom and Hannah would take the cure, but it would've been nice to see an epilogue with some of that info. Jeff Hirsch does not seem to be an author who hand-holds, and I do appreciate that he left things open to interpretation. I, however, would have loved to see a bonus chapter that showed how things were going a few months after the events of the novel.

Overall, this was an entertaining read that left me with a lot of things to ponder. I enjoyed how surreal everything felt, as I often wondered what was happening and what was real. I also loved how the mystery was slowly revealed, culminating in the discovery of the scientist who engineered the disease (no spoilers!). It was a wild ride from beginning to end, and by the very end of it I found it hard to put the book down. While I would've loved more, I'm pretty satisfied with what I got. I'd never heard of Jeff Hirsch before this book, and I'm interested to read some of his other work in the future.

I think this would be a great read for fans of dystopian novels and those who love suspense, especially boys who don't often see themselves as protagonists in YA novels. I'm definitely keeping it in my wheelhouse for reluctant readers I meet in the future!

[Austin N · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book is awesome because it is very suspenseful and has you at the edge of your seat the whole time. A virus sweeps through a small town that is a very horrible virus it also takes away all their memories. It is a great book for those of you who like suspense because you don't know what's going to happen next and what the virus is going to destroy next. If you have read books about horrible things that wipe out tons of people then you would love this book. And one person has a miracle come true so read to find out.............

[Mary Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

The town has become a place where groups roam trying to get dominance, the one kid who is uninfected and a group of other children who were infected are all hiding up at a camp, to be away from the predatory adults. The government came in to try and help but turned over everything to another group.

This book was assigned to my girls for their book club and at first, it seemed interesting, but as the time went on, I just couldn't get into and stay in the book.

[Jennifer]

Interesting and different sci-fi premise. Who are you when you forget who you are? What if you remember but no one else does? Great love given to libraries and comic books. Enjoyed the "Cardinal" sections.

[Rebecca Weir · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the plot and the cover, I did not expect to go through the emotional journey that that I did. This book is literature disguised as popular fiction. Truly impressed. One of my favorites. I'm really surprised the reviews are so low. There are so many worse books with better reviews.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the one hand, I liked the atmosphere. I liked that it was a (mostly) nonviolent viral apocalypse. But it was also a lot of philosophy and there was a lot of backstory that I wish had been fully included rather than referenced.

[Michelle Hauck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to come during the blog tour.

[Ke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spoilers ensue.

I bought this book from my favorite small-town bookstore many years ago. I make a habit to buy from them any time I'm in the area, just because I appreciate the store's atmosphere and a chance to buy something I've never heard of. This particular book was not picked out by me, however, but by a friend who was traveling with me and wanted the honors of choosing this stop's book of purchase.

As evidence of the fact that it has been on my shelf for years; I was not very interested in the concept of it. It was another book about a small town cut off from the rest of society because of a plague. Yawn. King's The Dome? Netflix's Between? Outbreak? Contagion? It's something that's been done so often and has never really been my cup of tea. However, my friend was very excited, so I swallowed my words and bought it.

This book had two things going for it right off the bat. It was a character writing to their brother. I was intrigued; I am very close to my brother and enjoyed seeing this relationship unfold as it's not covered very often in the art of story-telling. Siblings in fiction are rarely close -- close in a way that is realistic and believable. In media, siblings either hate each other or are so close that it comes off romantic and creepy. I have to say, Card's relationship with Tennant was the highlight of the book. I'm just sad to say it was the only highlight.

The second thing I was intrigued by was the main character's name. Cardinal Cassidy. Nicknamed Card. And his brother, Tennant. I am a huge comic nerd and I love all things Marvel and Doctor Who, so imagine my delight when it's revealed Card's dad writes comic books and named Cardinal after his series' main character, and Tennant was named after my favorite incarnation of the Doctor. However, my delight ended there.

The overwhelming motif of Card's own life replicating that of his father's comics was forced down the reader's throat in a way that was anything but subtle. The Null as a parallel to Hell/Black River and the villains being all but identical on and off-page was an insult to my intelligence.

There was almost a moment of relief when the "green-haired girl" showed up. But, like everything else in the story, the author failed to make her anything but boring and useless. He made such a big deal about her hair and who she was only to drop the "twist" that she literally was so unimportant that after they figured out she didn't live in town, they never brought up finding her family ever again. She almost ended up with Greer, which would have been great, but then Hirsch killed him off (the only moderately curious character arc he had) and her and Card's weird on-off relationship ensues.

And I'm sorry, but amongst all your trope-ridden crap you had to make your main character the only immune person? And tease us with him wanting to forget everything he's been through, and having the chance too, and then giving it up in the end for what? A girl he knew for like a week? Throughout the entire story, we have Card, who is so infested with PTSD that he has these weird personality changes and outbursts and finds out that he can forget all the trauma he's been through and turns it down so he can go watch a middle school play?

This entire book was one of the largest let-downs I have ever read. And the bar was already so, so low.

Gonzalez gives him a phone, says it will work fine. It doesn't, which Card notes as bizarre because Gonzales has never lied to him before -- what could this mean?? We don't know, it's never brought up again. Card stabs his mother's boyfriend and leaves her screaming for help as he disappears into the night. Oh no, she's spotted him again! What now?? Nothing. Fred doesn't recognize him, and his mother invites him over for Monopoly. Greer used to be a bully but after getting infected and losing his memory he's a new person who cares for lost kids. He knows Card is hiding the truth for him and is bothered by it -- oh man, Card just let slip that he knows who Greer used to be! What now?? Nothing. Greer drops it faster than it was brought up and makes a lame comedic relief joke. This whole book was a joke. And it wasn't even a funny one.

However, the fact remains that I have read worse. So, I guess there's that.

I almost want to rate it negative stars for the author's afterword -- as egotistical as that makes me sound. He thanks all these professional scientists and academic people for the help they provided in his work, but besides a paragraph on semantic memory which is easily accessible to anyone through google, this man did not include any sort of information that would have come from any respectable scientist. What, you needed clarification on what the CDC stands for?

Man, I gotta stop writing before I drop another star off this rating. All in all, as I said before, It's not the worst thing I've ever read. It's close, but then again, this is simply the opinion of a pandemic story by a girl who hates pandemic stories.

[Brandon Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black River Falls is an enjoyable yet somewhat slow book. Cardinal, the main protagonist, is a teen who lives in a town called Black River Falls. The town was devastated by a plague that causes its victims to lose all memories. Cardinal is one of the last remaining “survivors” of this plague, yet stays in Black River Falls with his new friend Greer who used to be the school bully. After a while, a mysterious girl shows up who is given the name Hannah. Cardinal has to take extra precautions from being infected by this plague only to figure out he is immune by physical contact from Hannah. Things then end up taking a wrong turn and riots start sprouting up due to the infected being treated like animals by a new corporation called Martison Vine.

The first thing I’d like to address in this fiction novel is Cardinal’s family and how the plague affected them. The initial breakout starts with Cardinal’s dad coming home from work acting a little weird. A couple hours pass and Cardinal’s dad goes crazy, losing all of his memories in the process. He stabs Tennant, Cardinal’s brother, and rushes out the door, never to be seen again. Tennant ends up dying and Cardinal’s mother ends up in a “trance” and walks out the door, leaving Cardinal all by himself. A lot of time passes and Cardinal ends up seeing his mom in an alleyway in Black River Falls. He plays it off pretending not to know her only to end up attempting to kill his mom’s new boyfriend thinking he was keeping her hostage. After this, Cardinal is more broken than ever and ends up kissing Hannah. Hours pass and Cardinal runs away finding out he is immune. The family/lover side of this story is my favorite part. It shows how close ones can mean so much to us and we can’t take that for granted.

The next point I’d like to talk about is the camp that Cardinal and Greer have. In this camp, they have multiple kids ranging from 7-15ish. This part of the story I feel like was just added in for the sake of lengthening the book. All of the characters feel meaningless and don’t have much to do with the story, yet a fourth of the book takes place in this setting. It’s a happy setting until when the town starts getting gunned down by Martison Vine (which will be in my next point). This camp is the “slow” part I mentioned earlier. Greer and Cardinal are the “owners” of this camp, but Greer does most of the work for it.

Martison Vine is the corporation that replaces the government officials after being sold to them. My opinions on this are pretty much nonexistent. They are needed for the climax/downfall of the story but are fairly generic. They end up destroying the town in the end due to all of the riots that take place by the infected.

The main theme and tone of this story is to understand that close ones are priceless and need to be valued despite the circumstances. This story takes place in an apocalyptic and depressing setting which leads to an edgy tone for the majority of the story while still managing to have a slight hopeful feeling. I personally really liked the theme and tone of this story. It was always easy to understand the feelings Jeff Hirsch was trying to get across to the reader. The feelings I got from reading this book were similar to the feeling I had when reading Divergent, another novel I thoroughly enjoyed.

All in all, the story was enjoyable for the most part but seemed to fail in the scenes being portrayed. My favorite part about reading this book was the emotions given to me. My least favorite being how slow the book felt whenever the scene was at the camp. Some may give the book a worse review due to the story not having a lot happening in it. I believe that the story does definitely have its flaws but still needs appraisal due to the author sacrificing the story a bit for the characters. The characters in this story are well written (main characters) and gave me a good emotional connection.

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 17 year old named Cardinal escaped a virus that came over his town, with the virus that keeps people alive but erases their memories . Cardinal decided to stay in the “quarantine zone” helping out a group of orphans in a mountain house surrounded in a deep forest. He is being helped by his best friend named greer who used to be his bully but thanks to the virus he is now his best friend soon after a mysterious young woman came into the town followed by a the exit of the national guard that got replaced by a somewhat evil corporation trying to take control of the quarantine zone which causes cardinal has to deal with new emotions take take over his body and make him remember and bring back bad memories.
Personally my opinion on the book is not great for me it started good, the beginning nad some great parts it was really hooking guess you could say but over time reading it, it started to get bland, the story wasn't very grasping so to say it was very strong on keeping me reading the points in the story kept repeating and going it just started to get boring and the end was lack luster
One passage that stood out to me was when the girl was introduced because that is when some extra plot was added and added more story and made the story more interesting which was a good addition to the story considering how to story was going which was good for me because at that point the story push me away from it so this was a nice addition to the story.
Personally for me i would give the book an 3 stars because the start of the book and the idea are good but it didn't live up yo it

[Harli Cruse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am writing this review because I genuinely loved it so much. It’s my favorite book that I’ve ever read in my life, and trust me when I say that I have read a lot.
The premise is clever. People are shaped by our memories, and this book dares to ask how would a whole community change if they no longer knew who they were? Would families break up if they didn’t remember who was their kid? The story is sad in this way, imagining all the happiness that was ruined.
What is even more emotional is our main character, Cardinal. He has a lot to deal with it, and he does it in such a genuine way. He’s one of the only people who can remember what everything was before. He knows what “normal” was like. He had a family who was completely shattered by the disease.
I love the elements of his Dad’s comics being added into it. I feel like I know those characters, too.
What I love most about this story, however, is definitely the perspective it’s written in. Cardinal is writing a journal, but not to the audience- to his brother whose life was taken as a result of the virus. There was something amazing about reading Cardinal’s memories when the “you” is to his older brother.
All the relationships seem genuine, too. The friendships and even suspicions that linger between each individual and the ones around them.
I would love a sequel, but if that never comes, I am satisfied with what I have been given.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parts of this book were very moving. I wish there was more character development for Greer and Hanna, though I guess with Cardinal’s extreme PTSD, it is not surprising that he (and therefore the reader) spends more time in his head than with others around him. The book makes the reader consider whether bad memories are better forgotten or if all memories are important, even if they cause you pain. I think the answer is different, depending on circumstance. With Card, his memories were painful, but ultimately forgetting them would mean forgetting his family. With Greer, forgetting his past was a fresh start, a better start. I think it brings up another question: is evil learned or born into a person? Again, the book offers both options. Greer’s evil was learned and when he lost his memory, it went away. Other characters acted evilly after loosing their memory indicating that evil was their true nature. The lack of solid answers could be considered frustrating, but ultimately, I think it opens the book for discussion and thus makes this book worth a read.

[Daneka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely an interesting concept, rather than the entire world or country being included in the "dystopian" event, they narrowed it down to a single town cut off from the rest of the world. I enjoyed this book but it won't make it into my top list. I liked Card, he seemed like he had a more realistic view of the situation in Black River than most other people did, especially for being a teenager. I feel like the author could have done a better job including the fact that the main character was bi-racial than just throwing it into some of the dialogue and then never touching on it again. A missed opportunity I think to add some diversity and culture to the story. There were some holes and events that really didn't add at all to the plot that probably could have been done differently. I did enjoy that the format was really like a journal or a long letter to his older brother as a way of coping with the situations he found himself in. All in all a fairly decent read.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it has been quite a while since I’ve read The Eleventh Plague, I instantly felt a familiarity to Black River Falls.
While it wasn’t the best book, it definitely isn’t the worst.
The writing, it felt like a haze, but not in a bad way. Like I was there and not. Like I was living the book and just reading it. It made me feel Cardinal, see what was happening, believe it.
The characters were interesting and I loved Card. He will stick with me for a long time.
While the ending was a little too open-ended for me, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good ending. I just wished for a bit more than what was given.
One of the better surprises was who the narrative was directed to. A fantastic surprise actually.

Worth the read.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, it kept me on the edge of my seat the entire book. I though this would be a post apocalypse story but it wasn't, the incident was only contained to one town. But the atmosphere made it seem like it was a global crisis that had occurred. I really like Cardinal but the character that caught my immediate interest was Greer, according to Cardinal he was a bully before he got infected with the memory eating virus, to have a completely different life after the infection was nice he became like an older brother figure to the kids that stayed in the mountains with him, and I was really interested in Hannah's story, I was sure they were going to figure out who she was, I think I like who she became probably more than who she use to be if they would've revealed it.

[Young At Heart Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Typically I'm not into the whole slight dystopia, virus spreading kinds of book and this one isn't an exception. There were good ideas here, and the tone and style is very competent. It just wasn't the genre I'm usually interested in. Again I found myself liking the side characters more than the protagonist, who was very underwhelming.

It also took more than 2/3rds of the book for the plot to really get moving and that really is too long to wait. The majority of the book has such meandering pace that it's difficult to stay interested. Most of the twists I saw coming from a mile away.

This isn't a terrible book, but it's one that I will probably forget about in a month or so.

[Karen]

I really enjoyed the book. It was quite interesting. There were a lot of labyrinths to follow. I didn't think the book itself would end up being a letter written to a dead person about all the events that happened. I think it was cool how they added that twist to the ending. I liked how they left a cliff hanger at the end. There was a lot of action involved. And the climax really made me nervous. I like how in the beginning the book seemed boring a bit, but the deeper you got, the more interesting and exciting it got. Overall it was a pretty decent book. Definitely reccomend to those who like a bit of cliff hanger.

[BluJade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story.
Pros:
I like that the MC is a POC and a Male POV.

CONS:
Kind of predictable. The MC could have been a better friend and I wish his friendship with the younger kids was shown. And a clear description of the kids and their ages would have been nice.


Also didnt like that they suggested that a physical relationship between a " just turned 14 yrs old" girl and a 17yr old boy is perfectly find. Thankfully the boy was smarter than that.

[Drucilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hirsch takes a different angle with this book in that he focuses more on what memory is and the absence of it rather than a survival/conspiracy plot. It ends up working very well. I also liked how everything played out, mostly because I agree with the message. I probably wouldn't have like the book as much if it had ended with Cardinal's plan to purposely become infected to forget everything had actually worked.

[Tammie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I think this is a great young adult and adult book alike. There is happy moments between the characters, and sad ones you are not sure if you want to keep reading, but decide that you want to know what happens next. I thought this was a great twist on the subject of losing one's mind. Learning to be someone now from what you used to be!

[αλήθεια · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had some weird philosophical stuff in it, but other than that I have to say: The characters were so cool. I loved the girl with the green hair. She was so mysterious and I just want to know more about her!! Also, can we just talk about Greer?? I stan. I loved how he was a former bully but now is Cardinal's loyal best friend. Idk, I just love him. I wish there was a sequel:(

[Flyingzebras · Rating 4 out of 5]

A virus takes the memory of everyone in town. Somehow they manage to contain the thing and isolate the city where it began, Black River Falls.
But there is one person who remembers, teenager Card Cassidy.

Gets a bit long. Is even a bit slow in places. The ending totally makes the whole thing. A good exercise in what memory is and when it is good to remember and when it is good to forget.

[Elzbeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually really like this book. The thing that worked against it was how quickly it chose to tie everything up because it had spent so much time on character development. But I guess when you’re one of the only people who remembers in a town full of those who have forgotten, you want to tie things up as quick as you can

[Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

A expected more of this book. The concept was very interesting at first. There's a virus that infected the town of Black River Falls which makes everyone lose their memories. Okay That's a Good start. However, as the story progresses, it gets boring to the point that I just read and read until I realized wtf was I reading. Unfortunately, this book is a DNF!