Lawrence, Asher and Oakey have a normal childhood. That is until one evening their mum and dad burst into flames. As they go out into the street, they see that this is happening as far as they can see. They jump into their parents' car and drive off in search of a holiday cottage owned by family friend, as the world they know goes up in flames around them.
'Hell on Earth' follows the three children as they look for a safe place and somewhere to belong at the end of the world.
This is a great short story, I've actually read it 3 times already. I've read many dystopian future type novels and pride myself on being able to figure out what is going to happen. However this has quite a few plot twists that I really wasn't expecting and touches on some pretty dark subject matter.
It follows 3 siblings trying to build a new life together after their old one falls apart. Very fast paced and easy to read. The only thing that I didn't enjoy was that there is a time lapse in the book and I really wanted to know what had happened to the characters during that time rather than just know that time had passed - however it doesn't spoil the the story, I'm just nosy I guess.
Would really like to know what happens to the characters afterwards - I did not see that end coming!!
No spoilers. I loved reading this short novel and swallowed it up in two sittings.
The story is fast paced but covers a time period of over a year so you feel like you really get to see the characters develop.
There are very dark points and you'd expect that from a post-disaster story. The way the characters come to terms with the new world was a fresh take, despite plenty of well-known post-apocolypse stories around recently. There was something almost Susan Hill-like in the telling.
If I had to summarise this for a recommendation, I'd say Lord of the Flies meets 28 Days Later, very accessible, quite shocking at times. I'd love to see a series of stories set in this world.
Get reading everyone so we can all petition the author!! :)