Death is a Welcome Guest

Plague Times Trilogy #2

by Louise Welsh

Magnus McFall is no stranger to trouble, but he never expected a life sentence. He is arrested just as a pandemic called ‘The Sweats’ hits London. Growing public disorder results in emergency powers and he finds himself imprisoned without trial. An unlikely alliance with long-termer Jeb and a prison riot offer the opportunity of escape. The two men force their way through the devastated city and head north into countryside fraught with danger. Magnus is unsure if Jeb is an ally or an enemy and soon he is forced to decide how far he will go in order to survive.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Crime, Scotland, Dystopia, Apocalyptic, Mystery

371 pages, Hardcover

First published June 4, 2015

About the author

After studying history at Glasgow University, Louise Welsh established a second-hand bookshop, where she worked for many years. Her first novel, The Cutting Room, won several awards, including the 2002 Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey Memorial Dagger, and was jointly awarded the 2002 Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year Award. Louise was granted a Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial Award in 2003, a Scotland on Sunday/Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award in 2004, and a Hawthornden Fellowship in 2005.

She is a regular radio broadcaster, has published many short stories, and has contributed articles and reviews to most of the British broadsheets. She has also written for the stage. The Guardian chose her as a 'woman to watch' in 2003.

Her second book, Tamburlaine Must Die, a novelette written around the final three days of the poet Christopher Marlowe's life, was published in 2004. Her third novel, The Bullet Trick (2006), is a present-day murder mystery set in Berlin.

The Cutting Room 2002
Tamburlaine Must Die 2004
The Bullet Trick 2006
Naming The Bones 2010

Prizes and awards
2002 Crime Writers' Association John Creasey Memorial Dagger The Cutting Room

2002 Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year Award (joint winner) The Cutting Room

2003 BBC Underground Award (writer category) The Cutting Room

2003 Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial Award

2004 Corine Internationaler Buchpreis: Rolf Heyne Debutpreis (Germany) The Cutting Room

2004 Scotland on Sunday/Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award

2004 Stonewall Book Award (US) (honor in literature)

Reviews

[Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the first book of Louise Welsh's Plauge Times trilogy, A Lovely Way To Burn, so this sequel was an automatic shoo-in for my Most Anticipated of 2015 list. I was mildly surprised, but still excited, to learn it would focus on a different character. A Lovely Way To Burn was all about gutsy TV presenter Stevie Flint; Death is a Welcome Guest is about a stand-up comedian, Magnus McFall.

This one doesn't start where the last one left off. Instead it opens as the spread of the virus known as the Sweats, which we already know will eventually engulf the country (assuming 'we' read the first book of the trilogy), is in its early stages. Magnus is en route to a gig, as warm-up act to the obnoxious Johnny Dongo; an afflicted boy collapses onto the railway before the show. After a spat with Johnny, Magnus gets arrested - there's a convoluted scene involving him rescuing a girl from an ostentatiously nefarious would-be rapist who turns out (a bit implausibly) to be an MP, then being caught in the act by a gang of men who assume he's the girl's attacker - and finds himself imprisoned in an overflowing prison where both inmates and staff are dropping like flies. He forms a precarious alliance with Jeb, a long-term prisoner whose crimes are, for most of the book, unknown. Magnus's aim is to get back to his hometown on Orkney, where he's convinced he will find his family safe and well, and so the two set off on a potentially treacherous trek across the country. Then they meet a gun-toting military priest who presides over a community at crumbling Tanqueray House, and it all goes a bit 28 Days Later.

Unlike A Lovely Way To Burn - which had me completely hooked from the outset - this story is really slow to get going. The prison riot is interminable, and totally lacking in suspense since, if Magnus and Jeb didn't escape, there'd be no story at all. At this point I was seriously worried I wasn't going to like the book; but once they're out of prison and on the road, it picks up.

I've spent ages trying to work out whether this is objectively a better book than A Lovely Way To Burn. I think it probably is. It's less melodramatic; sure, it has a dramatic climax, but not quite the crazed, almost horror-movie-esque scenes of its predecessor. It's more contemplative and spends a greater amount of time delving into its main character's state of mind, examining the psychological implications of the virus - and, to some extent, the political fallout. (I should also mention that it can certainly be read as a standalone novel, although it perhaps has something in common with the second part of many trilogies in that much of the content feels like filler.) The best moments come towards the end, when all the tension that's been building throughout the story combines with the strange undercurrents in Tanqueray village and creates a lurid, horrible climax. It's telling that these scenes are probably the least believable in the book and yet they are the most emotionally compelling.

While I loved Stevie, Magnus left me feeling indifferent. Because this story is less plot-driven, it sacrifices the great advantages of the first book's crime thriller structure - the brilliant tension, the need to know what would happen next, the clues and revelations leading the protagonist from one place, one person to the next. I had no real investment in Magnus's quest to get back to his family, because the narrative didn't want me to care about that. Sure enough, it ends up becoming a footnote - by the time Mangus reaches Orkney, both he and the reader know his family aren't going to be alive. Jeb is a deliberately offputting character, the whole point being that he will end up a scapegoat and that the reader will be prompted to wonder what they'd do in Magnus's position, whether they'd bother to help him. But honestly, I didn't find this dilemma that interesting either.

Death is a Welcome Guest is a good, solid read that does a decent job of advancing the story arc of the Plague Times trilogy. But I think perhaps it's more scene-setting for the final part than anything else. I'll definitely be reading the last installment, with the hope that it returns to the irresistible excitement of the first.

[Alison Hardtmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Magnus is a comedian who grew up in the Orkney islands and is now in London, where he's just gotten a big break opening for a much more famous comedian. The first night goes well, but on his way home he sees a man attempting to rape a drunk woman and intervenes. When the police show up, they arrest him; an unfortunate mistake, but one Magnus thinks can be quickly resolved, except that a pandemic hits while he's in a jail cell, which is not a great place to be when the people around you are dying. If he survives the virus and manages to get out, his plan is to make his way home, where he hopes his family is alive and waiting for him.

The second in Louise Welsh's trilogy about life during and after a deadly pandemic, this is really a stand-alone set in the same world as the first novel. Like the first novel, this one also centers on a mystery along with the struggle simply to survive. People are not necessarily who they say they are and sometimes they are a lot worse. And actions taken for the good of everyone sometimes do a great deal of harm. In the final pages, this novel ties to the first one and I'm very much looking forward to reading the final installation of this excellent series.

[Liz Barnsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first novel in the "Plague Times" trilogy, A Lovely Way to Burn, was a favourite for me so I was very excited to read the second book in the series. Easily read as a standalone novel "Death is a Welcome Guest" is in a lot of ways a quieter, more contemplative look at the world first realised in "Burn" focusing on a different set of characters and telling a different kind of tale...

The story is set as the sweats begins to really take its toll - we meet Magnus, a comedian, whose life seems to be coming together just as the world falls apart. A rather "murphy's law" set of circumstances see's him jailed then stuck there as people are dying like flies. After making his escape rather reluctantly in the company of his cellmate, the pair seem stuck together. Magnus wishes to find his family but the times he now finds himself in are dangerous ones and he and Jeb are about to get a taste of a new kind of community...

This instalment was a slow burner in a good way - the characters are developed slowly but surely, put into situations that test their moral compass, Magnus especially is given a lot to think about. Louise Welsh uses her story to examine where the cracks are in our society and most especially to look at human nature in both its good and bad forms giving a lot of pause for thought on what might happen should the worst happen.

She manages to give us a little murder mystery in there as well, another platform from which to explore how we treat each other, it is a very cleverly constructed and often emotional tale that will draw you in. I love how the world is developing in the aftermath of the plague, I am going to be very interested to see how the author completes the trilogy - will both these tales merge or will there be another completely different viewpoint? No idea but can't wait to find out.

Whilst Magnus was a great anchor for the story, I found myself more drawn to Jeb whose background we don't really find out until much later - one of the intriguing aspects about the ongoing story for me was the assumptions that Magnus made about Jeb which coloured some of his actions - the friendship (yep not really a friendship but I can't think of another word!) that develops between these two is highly engaging.

I love how the two novels in the series so far stand together yet apart - both bringing something different to the building of this world - and allowing the reader to choose the order in which to read them.

Overall this is shaping up to be a really great trilogy, one that will stay with me. I cannot wait for the finale.

Happy Reading Folks!

[Keith Currie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second of the Plague Times novels has the same setting and context as the first, but different characters and plot. This time, the lead character is a man, a Scottish comedian called Magnus McFall. He is arrested for a crime he did not commit, locked in prison just as the contagion hits the population of England. His escape and subsequent adventures are the subject of the novel, culminating in a murder mystery based in a religious retreat house in the abandoned countryside. As in the first, what really grips is the collapse of society and survivors' attempts to cope, rather than the rather implausible mystery with its treatment of religious mania and hysteria.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first in this series was impressive and enjoyable, as was much of this, but three-quarters through it I was conscious of a degree of ennui, felt that it had become a little stereotyped. And, without wishing to spoil things, I found the penultimate passage of action difficult to follow.

[Bookread2day · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only gave Death is a Welcome Guest three stars. My favourite book by Louise Welsh was The Cutting Room.

[Grace Harwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of books that stretch themselves into sequels, but I really did enjoy the first in Louise Welsh's Plague series so thought I'd give this a go. This one can be read as a standalone book, which is good for those new to the series, although to be honest, I wouldn't bother with it if you are new to the series. I'd just read the first one in the series, and forget the rest.

This one follows the fortunes of Magnus, an up and coming comic, in the days following the outbreak of 'the sweats' (the plague which wipes out the population). It lacks the appeal of the first novel (I definitely didn't enjoy it as much) and seems to struggle to know what it really is. Is it an apocalyptic novel? It doesn't seem to be (Welsh, after all, has done that to great effect in the first book). Is it a crime novel? Most of the book seems to be concerned with who has committed a series of murders in a post-apocalypse community. However, readers don't pick up books like these to read crime novels (I know I didn't - I ended up confused as to what the book was trying to do). I nearly gave up in the middle, but I hate to do that, so I stuck it out to the end. However, I came away with the sensation that it was definitely not as good as the first - and I definitely won't bother with the third.

[AngelaC · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book in a mystery box of books from an online bookseller and it turned out to be a really good read. I couldn't help feeling, though, that it is a different read now than it would have been if I had read it in 2016 when it was first published.
The disease that causes the total breakdown of society in this novel is called "the Sweats". The author refers to the bubonic plague in the Acknowledgements but the sweats did actually exist in the late 15th century, continuing until the mid 16th century. Like the disease in the book, it could kill people in just a few hours.
Chillingly, in the Acknowledgements, the author writes "[...] scientists are agreed that there will be another pandemic at some point in the near future. What it will be, when it will hit, and how many will die is uncertain. All we can be sure of is that it will come." Prescient indeed.
This is a real page turner and, at the same time, a thought-provoking book. Thoroughly recommended.

[Gail Addis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't put this one down!

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this second book in the Plague Times Trilogy, Death is a Welcome Guest, the ‘every person for themselves’ reaction to the global pandemic continues as it threatens to indiscriminately wipe out the world’s population. As it cleaves through families to leave a single survivor, or in most cases no one at all, I began to wonder which group should be considered the most fortunate – the living or the dead.

The increasingly lawless state encourages small pockets of communities to gather. They appear to observe minimal social graces while a feral streak is itching to get to the surface. Sinking into biblical regression is just one of the options for those who have tried or lost everything else and the author reinforces the ferocity of their situation as scenes of panic, repulsion, and defensive tactics are portrayed vividly but in perfectly timed wake up calls.

With the combination of a variety of characters and their degrees of despair, the story marches on at quite a pace until the most unlikely hero emerges in a stand-up comedian by the name of Magnus McFall. His initial problems began when he tried to save a girl from being assaulted only to find he was arrested for the offence himself. When ‘The Sweats’ hit, being trapped in a cell with his putrefying cellmate would seem like a walk in the park compared to what awaits him outside his door.

We follow his escape from prison under the reluctant wing of fellow inmate, Jeb Soames, an enigmatic loner with one or two skeletons in the cupboard. As with most people in this story, it’s unwise to make assumptions based on someone’s past or first appearances as their behaviour continually challenges your expectations.

As Magnus makes his way out of London to travel home to Orkney my liking for him grew. His mother’s telephone rings out which should tell him everything he needs to know, but he clutches to the vaguest hope that all is well. For the moment it’s all he’s got as it’s not just the threat of illness or his new convict companion he has to worry about, it’s the casual strangers they meet whose cause of death is swathed in suspicion. While the ‘whodunnit’ element isn’t overly complex I enjoyed the creeping suspense immensely.

Facing the harsh reality of a civilisation on the verge of imploding, Death is a Welcome Guest offers both the best and the worst of people. To learn that some people have preserved their integrity when others have lost their moral compass is reassuring, even in fiction.

Very much looking forward to reading No Dominion (Book 3) in 2017 to see how the trilogy concludes. Hopefully we’ll see more of our first survivor from A Lovely Way to Burn (Book 1), as Stevie Flint makes only the briefest appearance on this occasion. Not to worry though, Magnus McFall confidently holds the spotlight from beginning to end.

Rating: 4/5 (With special mention to the woman in the 'Village in Bloom' competition - what a trooper.)

(Source: My own purchased copy that's been sitting on my shelf far too long!)

[Jack Deighton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second in Welsh’s Plague Times trilogy written pre-Covid. To read it in the midst of a pandemic is odd but the similarities are outweighed by the differences. “The sweats” is at once both more virulent but more forgiving than Covid. Those who die succumb quickly, those who survive do not experience lingering symptoms.

Avoiding the usual hazard of middle books of three Welsh cleverly has a different viewpoint character from the first book, A Lovely Way to Burn. This is Magnus McFall, sometime comedian, who witnesses the first manifestations of “the sweats” while playing down the bill to a much more successful comic. His reflection that “London had not closed for the Blitz, the IRA, or al-Qaeda. It would take more than a few germs to shut down the city” is of course not borne out by our own pandemic experience.

On his way home after a gig he prevents the rape of a girl but is himself mistaken for the rapist and so finds himself in jail awaiting trial. Not a good place to be at the outset of a pandemic. When his cellmate dies he is placed in with Jeb who is in the sex offenders wing and garb. It later transpires Jeb is in solitary because he was a policeman found guilty of murdering the woman who he had a relationship with on an undercover assignment.

Their breakout of jail is brutal - not least to other inmates - and they make their way into the country on motor bikes using back roads, with Magnus aiming to return to his home in Orkney. Several close encounters ensue before the pair end up at Tanqueray Hall, a big house containing a small religious group led by the elderly Father Wingate. We have here almost the perfect closed community, the setting for many a crime story. And the murders have already started.

The breakdown of civil life is a staple of apocalyptic tales, as is attempts to restore order by harsh actions. To a certain kind of mind catastrophes are soon latched on to as a manifestation of God’s punishment for wickedness. The ideas that a Supreme Being could be benevolent and that disasters can occur to the innocent, are beyond that mind set. The fact of survival is no guarantee of innate goodness, and it can of itself unhinge the survivor.

Character is a tricky aspect of the post-apocalypse tale. Norms of behaviour may change as a result of the event, but some human constants will remain so. Welsh’s scenario is the classic one of the SF so-called ‘cosy’ catastrophe, albeit with a modern twist and an added dash of crime (which itself is a concept liable to undergo change in the aftermath.) There are inevitable echoes of John Christopher in Death is a Welcome Guest even if Welsh has never read him (though I suspect she has.) She certainly knows how to keep the reader turning the pages. It remains to be seen whether in the third of the trilogy the expectations of that sub-genre are fulfilled.

[Donald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this much more than the previous book in the trilogy, it was better written, and just seemed more believable, although the set piece at the end was far too clichéd, and the mysterious killer, far too obvious for anybody with half a brain to see coming a mile off.

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

A kind of companion novel to A Lovely Way to Burn this is set just slightly after The Sweats has hit, the pandemic which wipes out vast numbers of the population. With a new main character and because of that a slightly different feel, this is a great read. Magnus McFall is a nearly successful comedian when the illness strikes but has ended up in jail after he tries to rescue a woman in the street and ends up accused of rape. Not a great place to be when people are dropping dead right and left. The book is about his quest to make it home, he wants to get home to his hometown in the islands in the north of Scotland. On the way there he and his cellmate Jeb, a man with a complicated past, encounter all kinds of challenges. As in the first novel, there is murder and Magnus feels compelled to solve this in order to carry on with his journey north. Hopefully, there is another novel coming along, I've enjoyed spending time with Stevie and Magnus and have been quite caught up in their stories.

[Blodeuedd Finland]

Meh, did not make me want to continue

[Severina · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the aftermath of a plague called 'the sweats' that has wiped out most of mankind, two unlikely men are thrown together as they attempt to flee London.

This is the sequel to Welsh's "A Lovely Way to Burn", and the second in her 'Plague Times' trilogy. But it's not necessary to have read the first book to enjoy this one. In the first book, 'the sweats' had just started to take hold in London. This story follows two new characters as they attempt to reach Scotland from a London that has now totally succumbed to this new disease. There is a nice little tie-in to the first book at the end, but new readers won't feel like they've missed anything.

Magnus McFall is a rising comedian who is mistaken for a rapist when he attempts to help a young woman. He's held in prison over the weekend instead of the local jail due to overcrowding until his release on Monday morning, but the plague has other ideas and Magnus finds himself locked in with fellow prisoner Jeb Soames as the city dies around them. Magnus has been placed in the 'Vulnerable Prisoners' section – where they house sex offenders – and as such he's legitimately leery of Jeb. But the two have to stick together if they want to escape the prison and make their way north safely.

This is a fast-paced and interesting page turner. Both men are dealing with issues of death and abandonment in their pasts, and for Magnus his thoughts as they travel toward Scotland are never far from his family, particularly his cousin Hugh. Jeb is prickly but occasionally lets slip that he is more than he seems, and for me he was the most intriguing of the two.

I'm looking forward to reading the third book in the series.

[Gerald · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the second of a trilogy. I find I have already read the first some time ago but did not read this knowing it was part two of a trilogy therefore it clearly stands alone as a novel.

Not for the first time recently, I have found a book that is compelling to read while at the same time being pretty awful. Looking back on my reviews on two previous Louise Welsh novels, I find a common theme occurring and that is that while the stories are good and keep you interested, you are also aware that what you're reading is rubbish.

She has a knack of making her lead characters, certainly Magnus McFall, the would be hero of this book and who survives to star in the third book of the trilogy, an unlikeable arsehole with a weak personality, full of virtue signalling and dubious convictions. Shame he survives really but the whole story, set in apocalyptic times, is fairly weak and not very convincing.

I was amazed to find that the author is actually of advanced years because the book reads like it's been written by a student or graduate, naively piecing together their first disjointed effort at something more than a short story. Tribute is paid at the end of the book for saving the writer from geological mistakes - the same can't be said of all the other errors I found without looking such as propping up motorbikes, harvesting while the early spring crop rapeseed is flowering - and many more, including some dubious timelines.

Not one to recommend and please someone, shoot me if ever I decide to read the third effort of this poor trilogy.

[Ape · Rating 5 out of 5]

This trilogy doesn't let up - such an addictive read. Highly recommended. It's a good crime/escape/road trip kind of tale, but add in the backdrop of the disintergration of society as we know it as a large percentage of the world's population is swiftly dispatched thanks to an aggressive flu/sweating disease, and things get really tense. And what Welsh portrays, as do the other good writers of these end-of-the-world tales, in the end, the thing you need to fear most is other people. Scary how quickly people lose their inhibitions and turn feral. Depressingly real.

But this is a cracking read. We follow young Orkney man Magnus McFall, as he travels into London to be a supporting act for some megastar comedian. It all goes a bit wrong (so he thinks) when he's wrongly suspected of rape, and thrown straight into prison for emergency measures. Of course, then everyone starts dropping like flies, and prison isn't the place to be, especially when your cell mate has just died in his bed of the sweats.

There follows a daring prison break and escape from London and out into the countryside where those who have survived are indulging their every whim. Magnus and fellow escapee Jeb are rescued by soldier-priest Jeb and taken to his new community that he's building with aged priest Father Wingate. But even here things are not right.

All Magnus wants to do is get back to Orkney, but things on the mainland keep pulling him back...

[Emma Bannenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly compelling to read. Protagonist and narrator POV is straight and male. It’s hard to tell whether this is absolutely deliberate for the intended audience and/or done to meet genre expectations.

For example, there’s a fair amount of casual homophobia and characterisation of women as weak and vulnerable, both in the quips characters make and in the observations made by the protagonist and in the characterisations by the author. Some of this is pretty reductive and I’m not sure it reflects anything other than expectations of the genre, to beef up the ‘tough guy’ action. In any case it’s all too predictable a setup. World ends, men take charge by violent means. There is fertile territory neglected here, such as research findings that show women become the community leaders in most climate disasters and show the greatest resilience in recovery efforts. But hell, this book was just meant to entertain and it does so.

First third was gripping, before it veers into kooky territory with the gathering of more characters together. The themes of reactive religiosity, frozen grief, inherent violence and inevitable madness in response to a pandemic and societal collapse did not sit quite right but this was written speculatively, pre-pandemic. It’s interesting to me with my reading history that I was yearning for less of a psychological element and more description of the initial post pandemic world.

[Anne Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Death is a Welcome Guest' is the second instalment in Louise Welsh's plague trilogy. Having enjoyed the first one so much I was really looking forward to finding out what happened next and was a bit confused when it didn't seem to follow on. Turns out this is a completely different plague story with different characters and the plague even having a different scientific name (though in both books it's known colloquially as 'the sweats'). In this book the pandemic kills most of the population off in the space of a weekend and the story is more about survival in the aftermath. As the pandemic unfolded so quickly I couldn't relate to it as much as I did the plague in the first book. At first I wasn't sure about this story but once I'd got my head round it not being a follow on to the first book I did end up enjoying it. Bizarrely though, right at the end the main character (Magnus) meets the main character (Stevie) from the first book. Magnus has just arrived in Orkney and as the third book is set in Orkney, I'm assuming the stories of the two characters meld. Though quite how it can be that they've lived through two different pandemics that managed to kill most people off, but at the same time - I'm not sure how that's going to work. Watch this space and I'll report back.

[Andy Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book of a trilogy. The first book, A Lovely Way to BurnA Lovely Way to Burn, is set in the same pandemic but features totally different characters. The first book is more of a detective/mystery novel that happens to be during the apocalypse while this one has a bit more action.

The blurb on the book tells you what you need to know. A stand up comedian is on the verge of his big break when an outbreak of a disease happens. What happens after that reminds me a bit of one of the apocalyptic fiction books from the 1960s or 1970s where most of the English population is dead and the survivors start to set up small communities. Maybe there's a bit more violence than some of them, but not an excessive amount.

I really enjoyed it. I have already bought the third book.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second instalment of The Plague Times Trilogy was a compulsive page turner for me. I actually preferred the second novel to the first (preferring the characters of Magnus and Jeb - their personal backstories kept me riveted and rooting for their survival), even though the first book 'A Lovely Way to Burn' was also well written, well researched and extremely realistic. I would just add that I feel the first two novels don't necessarily need to be read in their order as they are both about completely different characters and their respective journey as survivors of the outbreak to a safe haven.
Reading these books at the time of the Coronavirus outbreak brings it home that life is indeed fragile, as is the structure of the global economy and the ease at which society can break down breakdown - all of these aspects Louise Welsh has brought together in these books and I am really looking forward to reading - but not finishing too quickly as I want to savour every page - the third instalment of Plague Times.

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first two thirds of this post-apocalyptic novel. It felt reasonably convincing, and, if not particularly original, with its devastating virus, known as the Sweats, it was nevertheless pacy and relatively unpredictable. Two men find themselves stuck in prison when society starts to break down, they manage to escape, and one adventure follows another. So far, so good. But then unfortunately the plot descends into melodrama and a convoluted murder mystery. The two escapees meet an unlikely crew of unlikely characters, all very one-dimensional and shallow, and the plot, such as it is, feels forced. I was also irritated by the lack of research. The power is out but the water still comes out the taps? There has been extensive looting but food doesn’t seem to be a problem? There’s plenty of fuel for motorbikes, cars and a combine harvester? So a promising beginning but a very disappointing end and a rushed finale.

[Ann Dewar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well during Covid 19 lockdown was a strange time to find myself accidentally happening to read a book about a virus decimating the world but it certainly added a different dimension to my reading experience!

Creepy coincides aside, this was a well-handled and prescient read, creating an interesting juxtaposition of the credible and less expected consequences of the outbreak. Helped by the choice of a slightly unlikely lead character, the novel moves along quickly enough in line with thriller protocol and was a fast and compelling read. A novel for our times but post-lockdown I'd probably recommend the earlier "The Bullet Trick" as a quirkier, more interesting read.

[Giovanna Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up in a mystery pack from my library before 'the great shutdown' here in Melbourne. Wow, spooky! A pandemic - this book was written way back in 2015 - it opens with scenes of a cruise ship and people dying mysteriously on it. Then we go to London, people carrying on with their lives, public transport full, news on TV of this mysterious sickness sweeping the world. Wow! A bit spooky of the parallels of the most recent pandemic - COVID. This novel falls into dystopia, everyday people and how the event change them. The horror of it. Funnily enough I enjoyed it....The main character is a bit of a loser, but I got over that as his journey continued - and what a crazy journey.

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am reading this in the midst of the pandemic. I haven’t read the first book, but the story hangs together fine without it. I found the premise of being in jail , whilst innocent, when the pandemic hits fascinating. His escape and subsequent reordering of priorities was interesting. So I found the side swipe into a crime novel a bit jarring. The glimpses of the post pandemic society were worth following, and I am interested enough to read the rest of the series. I just may have had the wrong expectations for this novel.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a post-apocalyptic story set in Britain where Magnus McFall is imprisoned just as the cataclysmic “sweats” hit and kills off almost everyone. He escapes London with a fellow-prisoner, Jeb, a much harder crim, as they make their way towards a Scottish island. They are saved from death by a vicar who shoots an attacker and takes them to a small community where the plot turns towards a murder mystery. This is tense and the catastrophe feels real, as do a range of interesting and complex characters, not all of whom survive

[Andrée · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a good plague....but it's such a snore that wimmin become 'currency'
Pretty likely I know but, since we're already suspending belief, why not have a bunch of kick ass birds on bikes eh? Ex army women with sniper rifles and killer skills?
The army are always blokes except they're not anymore
Just a thought and I know there's several books that do address this issue but think LW missed a trick

[Teresa Deeney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the first book in this series and although i enjoyed this one it's not as good. It's a well written book and i really enjoy the overall storyline about a world after 'the sweats ' but I didn't particularly enjoy the character of Magnus in this book, he was pretty dull in comparison to feisty Stevie in book 1. But I am looking forward to the next book and I'd say it's worth reading if you've read the first one.

[William Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

To me this was a book of two parts. The first dealing with the plague the fight for survival was well written and had me totally absorbed. When it got into the murder mystery it got bogged down which was a real shame. if she had left it as a post-apoptyltic tale would have been close to a top mark. Still overall it was an enjoyable read.

[Isabella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have not read the first book. The book starts of quite fast paced and kept me interested. But then I was bored in the middle and I thought I would be happy if they all just died! However, the last quarter picked up pace again and in the end I was left wondering what happened next and if I should read the first book.