In the Blood

by Lauren Wright Douglas

America, accidental victim of a biological warfare, is under forcible quarantine by a world desperate to protect itself from a savage virus named the Red Death, and within America itself entire states have sealed off their borders. — Enclaves exist where the Red Death has not wreaked it's havoc and one of them is a hidden lesbian group rumored to offer sanctuary... if they can be found.

Solar-tech Hart, is accompanying virologist Dr. Ashe to the California border. Ashe may hold the key to survival for she has developed an experimental vaccine against the virus. She is charged with bringing the virus to the Bio-Strike forces. Capt. Sandoval, commander of the Bio Strike forces has orders regarding Dr Ashe, but another officer assigned to Sandoval's unit, has her own secret set of orders...

In a primal struggle for survival and safety Hart and Sadoval find themselves caught in a web of treachery, kidnapping, even murder.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

175 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1989

Reviews

[A Arboles · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not great. The characters felt like home grown fan fiction without established canon. The dialogue stiff and difficult to stomach. The one romance felt contrived and obligatory. The writing in general was pretty cardboard-like too, which did not endear me to the drama or develop the intrigue of the science aspect. However, I did appreciate the tangential lesbian separatist vs lesbian establishment undertones that in my opinion, became the central theme of the book. But the main conflict still felt unclear and unresolved to me, and combined with the ambient histrionics of dyke literature, made the whole thing feel a bit like a soap opera in a way that was completely nonemotional. That being said, I still read the whole thing and I would recommend. Lesbians love to hate and hate to love content like this.

[Stephen Poltz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a hot mess. The writing was okay at best and the science was a little difficult to swallow. I kept on thinking that this shouldn’t have gotten the nomination for a Lambda Literary Award in 1990. I felt like it needed a really good editor to help the author with sentence building and continuity. But for some reason, in the end, I realized I enjoyed it. The plot is about a virus that sends the US into a nearly barbaric state. The trope was most famously done by Stephen King in “The Stand” and has been done many times since. However, it was probably a pretty novel approach to a book where women dominate the cast and feature a lesbian relationship.

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[Alexa · Rating 2 out of 5]

As much as I love lesbians, this shit got boring real quick. It started out nice, the characters were cool, the plot concept was interesting, but it felt like Douglas couldn't properly flesh it out or pull through to make a fully interesting story from beginning to end.

[Iris Honors · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not good. Lot's of stuff that just didn't make sense motivation/plot wise and characters would often explain too directly how they were feeling. Romance felt confined to a handful of scenes and mostly just felt unexpected. Like there was no buildup or development to it, it just happened.