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The Last #1
The Last Plague
Atlanta, 2050. Science without ethics grips our near future.Research pathologist Dr. Avit Arceneaux, a harvested clone, interacts best with the dead. A midnight call rushes him to perform an autopsy on a young soldier inoculated with the latest breakthrough vaccine, meant to gift the recipient with functional immortality. Instead, the soldier rotted from the inside out. Avit raises the alarm, but Surgeon General Dr. Story Patout has as much political clout as scientific malevolence. The man is chaos in a white lab coat. Avit misses his hidden agenda and the Surgeon General releases the weaponized vaccine.The result is global pandemic through mass immunization.Avit tries to stop the mad scientist, but the Surgeon General traps him, subjecting him to a bioengineering experiment that permanently alters the young man’s genetic identity. Avit is the perfect subject – a last generation clone.Surviving the pandemic, Avit struggles with his new DNA in a world that has fallen to the devastating consequences of medical catastrophe.Hunted by the military and every law enforcement agency that still exists, Avit must fight for a future he can't begin to imagine, let alone find a place in. He faces a last, profound question.Is he an unwanted product of extreme science, or the next evolution of humanity?The Last Plague offers a fast-paced, fresh take on the science fiction medical thriller with cataclysmic twists and turns and an alarming dystopia based on possibilities found in real medical research. “I wrote The Last Plague a year before the Covid pandemic, the idea born from my experience in the medical field and the tragic history of yellow fever epidemics in New Orleans, my hometown.” - DCCrouch Take a “Look Inside” to explore an eerily prescient future…
318 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 28, 2020
53 people are currently reading
1397 people want to read
About the author
Dawn C. Crouch
7 books43 followersI’m from New Orleans, where ghosts and devils are part of everyday life, so it is only natural to write fiction and nonfiction based on true stories. Most little girls dream of growing up to be a ballet dancer. However, I have always wanted to be a writer, and I am the author of five nonfiction and three fiction books so far…
But I received my early ballet training from Lelia Haller, one of the first Americans to dance in the Paris Opera, before continuing with Houston Ballet under James Clouser and Nicholas Polejenko. I am grateful to have studied with Danilova, Balanchine, Martha Graham, Eric Hawkins, David Howard, and other legendary teachers. I’ve taught at ballet schools throughout the southeast for over forty years.
The Garage Ballet Series is a collaborative mother-daughter effort. My two daughters, Dominique Crisler and Caroline Ruder, assisted with classes and danced through college level at Northern Illinois University and the University of South Carolina. They now advise and edit my nonfiction ballet books.
Garage Ballet aims to mentor students, teachers, and parents through easy-to-understand explanations of ballet techniques and training. I passionately believe the study of ballet yields life skills of proven value for every student, from PreBallet to Preprofessional to Adult. Ballet does Help Everything! Writing included!
I am the mother of two sons as well and have been married to the same Emergency physician through it all. So conversation at my dinner table may range from culinary comparisons to debates on different interpretations of the same role in a ballet performance to pure medical macabre.
But I remember... Life can change in an instant. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina obliterated our home and belongings in the space of a single Monday morning.
I was blown with my two youngest, still at home from Gulfport, MS, to Huntsville, AL. At the same time, my husband, one of nine ER docs in the only Emergency Department operating within a ninety-mile radius, stayed behind. We survived the storm, but the separation and arduous task of rebuilding almost did us in. Lesson learned. Things can always be worse!
My first novel, Against The Wind, a YA coming-of-age catastrophe thriller, is based on our encounter with the storm.
I began work on The Last Plague long before Covid, but the eerie undertone of the prescient tale resonates with the pandemic. The novel is a sci-fi dystopian glance into a near future where medicine runs amok with bioengineered clones, weaponized viruses, and a forbidden love story.
Dead Children’s Playground takes its title from a hidden playground in Huntsville and a Rocket City urban legend. Huntsville is a beautiful and strange place where in the early 60s, rural Appalachia collided with Nazi Germany.
My writing will always be peppered with stories from my convoluted, crazy, and unique life as a daughter, wife, mother, dancer, teacher... person.
Please visit dawncrouch.com for fiction updates and Garageballet.com for new releases, titles, and helpful videos.
But I received my early ballet training from Lelia Haller, one of the first Americans to dance in the Paris Opera, before continuing with Houston Ballet under James Clouser and Nicholas Polejenko. I am grateful to have studied with Danilova, Balanchine, Martha Graham, Eric Hawkins, David Howard, and other legendary teachers. I’ve taught at ballet schools throughout the southeast for over forty years.
The Garage Ballet Series is a collaborative mother-daughter effort. My two daughters, Dominique Crisler and Caroline Ruder, assisted with classes and danced through college level at Northern Illinois University and the University of South Carolina. They now advise and edit my nonfiction ballet books.
Garage Ballet aims to mentor students, teachers, and parents through easy-to-understand explanations of ballet techniques and training. I passionately believe the study of ballet yields life skills of proven value for every student, from PreBallet to Preprofessional to Adult. Ballet does Help Everything! Writing included!
I am the mother of two sons as well and have been married to the same Emergency physician through it all. So conversation at my dinner table may range from culinary comparisons to debates on different interpretations of the same role in a ballet performance to pure medical macabre.
But I remember... Life can change in an instant. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina obliterated our home and belongings in the space of a single Monday morning.
I was blown with my two youngest, still at home from Gulfport, MS, to Huntsville, AL. At the same time, my husband, one of nine ER docs in the only Emergency Department operating within a ninety-mile radius, stayed behind. We survived the storm, but the separation and arduous task of rebuilding almost did us in. Lesson learned. Things can always be worse!
My first novel, Against The Wind, a YA coming-of-age catastrophe thriller, is based on our encounter with the storm.
I began work on The Last Plague long before Covid, but the eerie undertone of the prescient tale resonates with the pandemic. The novel is a sci-fi dystopian glance into a near future where medicine runs amok with bioengineered clones, weaponized viruses, and a forbidden love story.
Dead Children’s Playground takes its title from a hidden playground in Huntsville and a Rocket City urban legend. Huntsville is a beautiful and strange place where in the early 60s, rural Appalachia collided with Nazi Germany.
My writing will always be peppered with stories from my convoluted, crazy, and unique life as a daughter, wife, mother, dancer, teacher... person.
Please visit dawncrouch.com for fiction updates and Garageballet.com for new releases, titles, and helpful videos.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 15, 2020
I was quite certain Ms. Crouch was a wonderful writer after reading her novel, "Against the Wind," but now after reading her novel, "The Last Plague" I am positive she is a wonderful, gifted writer.
She does a complete turn around from her reality based "Aganist the Wind," to the science fiction genre in "the Last Plague; Even though the story of a medically manufactured virus, disguised as a vaccine to help inoculate people from chronic illness, but instead unleashes a deadly plague that kills 80 percent of the world population doesn't seem so far fetched these days.
At the center of the story is Dr. Avit Arceneaux, a devoted pathologist who discovers that the vaccine is in fact a weaponized virus. Avit is a clone, who was once human, but whose body parts were harvested to save his brother Roby. His eyes are mechanical and he has scars running across his body where he was stitched back together after his original body parts were taken from him.
Avit struggles to save those few people that are left, never succumbing to the temptation to simply let people die and living up to the oath he took as a doctor. Avit is just one of many great characters weaved into this wonderful, captivating story. The author's writing is clear and lucid, and she has definitely done some serious medical research that takes this story to an even higher level. I Highly Recommend.
She does a complete turn around from her reality based "Aganist the Wind," to the science fiction genre in "the Last Plague; Even though the story of a medically manufactured virus, disguised as a vaccine to help inoculate people from chronic illness, but instead unleashes a deadly plague that kills 80 percent of the world population doesn't seem so far fetched these days.
At the center of the story is Dr. Avit Arceneaux, a devoted pathologist who discovers that the vaccine is in fact a weaponized virus. Avit is a clone, who was once human, but whose body parts were harvested to save his brother Roby. His eyes are mechanical and he has scars running across his body where he was stitched back together after his original body parts were taken from him.
Avit struggles to save those few people that are left, never succumbing to the temptation to simply let people die and living up to the oath he took as a doctor. Avit is just one of many great characters weaved into this wonderful, captivating story. The author's writing is clear and lucid, and she has definitely done some serious medical research that takes this story to an even higher level. I Highly Recommend.
November 29, 2020
I won this book on Goodreads, thus I feel compelled to write this review. It will be a mixed review.
They say timing is everything, and it definitely involves this book. Had it been released a year ago, it would be flying off the shelves. But not so much today. Most publishers steer clear of content of this nature right now because of our current pandemic. People are afraid, on edge, irritable, and a slew of other fearful descriptions. Most are awaiting the upcoming vaccine. With all that being said, the following is my synopsis of the contents. Readers can choose for themselves whether they will be comfortable reading this material. Some will be anxious to see what it says, others will not.
A bioengineered virus is created in a lab by a demented man, Dr. Patout, and spread throughout the world seeking global domination. Millions die from it. A vaccine is then created and distributed. A young pathologist (Avit) discovers the vaccine is a weaponized virus. 80% of the world's population die from either the virus itself, the vaccine, or a mutation of the vaccine, which causes the body to rot from the inside out. Avit, who is also a surgeon, has a relationship with a young nun who supports his brave work exposing what occurred.
Once you get past the first 50 pages, the story flows smoothly. Clones are involved, which is the only part of the story that I had a problem understanding.
They say timing is everything, and it definitely involves this book. Had it been released a year ago, it would be flying off the shelves. But not so much today. Most publishers steer clear of content of this nature right now because of our current pandemic. People are afraid, on edge, irritable, and a slew of other fearful descriptions. Most are awaiting the upcoming vaccine. With all that being said, the following is my synopsis of the contents. Readers can choose for themselves whether they will be comfortable reading this material. Some will be anxious to see what it says, others will not.
A bioengineered virus is created in a lab by a demented man, Dr. Patout, and spread throughout the world seeking global domination. Millions die from it. A vaccine is then created and distributed. A young pathologist (Avit) discovers the vaccine is a weaponized virus. 80% of the world's population die from either the virus itself, the vaccine, or a mutation of the vaccine, which causes the body to rot from the inside out. Avit, who is also a surgeon, has a relationship with a young nun who supports his brave work exposing what occurred.
Once you get past the first 50 pages, the story flows smoothly. Clones are involved, which is the only part of the story that I had a problem understanding.
October 25, 2021
The Last Plague is a fascinating novel. I was thoroughly engrossed from start to finish. Author Dawn Crouch has created a believable future America that is just enough like our current world but peppered with science fiction and magical realism. I don’t like science fiction, and yet I was drawn into this world. I know virtually nothing about the world of medicine and nil about clones, but I suspended my disbelief and rode this crazy ride Crouch created. Although, according to the author’s own words, which I read somewhere, the novel was written before our current pandemic, the parallels are remarkable. Besides being a wonderful storyteller, Crouch is an elegant writer. Each chapter is titled with a phrase using the word “all,” but that never becomes cute or contrived. She also precedes each chapter with a quote from Albert Einstein. I marvel at her tenaciousness, having to search Einstein’s words for the perfect quotes—and perfect these are—conveying the essence of each of the chapters. The Last Plague is a fine achievement, of which Dawn Crouch should be proud.
December 1, 2020
This book takes place after the Covid 19 plague. Dr. Avit is a clone that was created for body parts for his older brother who is in the military. They have removed one kidney, his eyes, some of his skin, and his ear and canal replacing them with artificial parts. He is one of the few lucky ones who was created prior to clones that they can use everything until death. He is the head doctor in the pathology lab. General Patout gives him a shot just as the last plague begins. When Dr Avit comes to it is to a different world and he now is known as Cenna, one of the doctor's sister and a respected surgeon. Can Dr. Avit figure out what this new plague is and why it is killing so many people.
July 8, 2022
Full of twists
This was definitely a page turner. This was a interesting dive. A medical forensic thriller with apocalyptic plot line, this story will keep you up all night. Well developed characters, both good and evil. If you like The Atlantis Gene, you'll love this book!
This was definitely a page turner. This was a interesting dive. A medical forensic thriller with apocalyptic plot line, this story will keep you up all night. Well developed characters, both good and evil. If you like The Atlantis Gene, you'll love this book!
July 18, 2025
Another good selection for me. My first book from the author. Booksirens
Read as a free review copy, this is my honest feedback based on my reading and completing the book.
This book has a decent original setup, set in a future where cloning is common, and a vaccine developed is supposed to grant near immortality. But the story is not that simple. The story follows Dr. Avicenna, a clone and pathologist, who uncovers that the vaccine is killing people from the inside out and it’s not an accident.
The first few chapters pull you in. There’s a whole lot of tension and the body horror is creepy good. The world feels chaotic in a believable way and Avi is a compelling lead. As a clone trying to navigate both medical disaster and his own identity, he’s one of the more interesting parts of the book.
But as much as I liked the premise, the writing sometimes got in the way. Some of the descriptions felt awkward or overly dramatic, and there were moments where I had to reread sentences just to figure out what it was trying to say. The plot seems to rely a bit too much on coincidences and the main villain comes across as churlish rather than threatening. This was a lot of lost chances as there were many opportunities of exploration in this premise that would have enriched the story.
But the story had a hold over me and I never really wanted to stop reading. It moves quickly, the stakes are high, and the ideas behind it are genuinely interesting. I just wish the execution had been a little sharper.
If you like dystopian thrillers with a splash of body horror and don’t mind some rough edges, The Last Plague is worth a shot. It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely different and sometimes, that’s enough.
I am reading the follow up book right now.
Read as a free review copy, this is my honest feedback based on my reading and completing the book.
This book has a decent original setup, set in a future where cloning is common, and a vaccine developed is supposed to grant near immortality. But the story is not that simple. The story follows Dr. Avicenna, a clone and pathologist, who uncovers that the vaccine is killing people from the inside out and it’s not an accident.
The first few chapters pull you in. There’s a whole lot of tension and the body horror is creepy good. The world feels chaotic in a believable way and Avi is a compelling lead. As a clone trying to navigate both medical disaster and his own identity, he’s one of the more interesting parts of the book.
But as much as I liked the premise, the writing sometimes got in the way. Some of the descriptions felt awkward or overly dramatic, and there were moments where I had to reread sentences just to figure out what it was trying to say. The plot seems to rely a bit too much on coincidences and the main villain comes across as churlish rather than threatening. This was a lot of lost chances as there were many opportunities of exploration in this premise that would have enriched the story.
But the story had a hold over me and I never really wanted to stop reading. It moves quickly, the stakes are high, and the ideas behind it are genuinely interesting. I just wish the execution had been a little sharper.
If you like dystopian thrillers with a splash of body horror and don’t mind some rough edges, The Last Plague is worth a shot. It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely different and sometimes, that’s enough.
I am reading the follow up book right now.
February 2, 2025
I'd never read this author before but I picked up the book because the plot sounded interesting. I found the first chapters slow and I almost stopped reading. I'm glad I didn't. The plot picks up and the characters flush out and an original and unusual plot appears as a page turner. There are a lot of apocalyptic novels published but none that I've read with clones in stasis used as organ donors, when a deliberately pandemic virus is launched in an attempt to take over the world that remains. The protagonist is an insecure introverted clone who performs autopsies. His evolution after an experimental vaccine is forced upon him leads to his becoming an enemy of those who would take over what's left of society. Recommended.
May 20, 2025
This delivers a sharp, fast paced medical thriller circa Atlanta 2050. Science has outpaced ethics and one doctor is thrust amidst a deadly conspiracy when a "miracle" vaccine (there's a spoiler here!!!!) does some huge things.
Dystopia forms in a global pandemic for every wrong reason.
Fantastic read!
(Plus, all the New Orleans and Louisiana bells ring true, Morgus!)
Thanks for letting me read your book!
Dystopia forms in a global pandemic for every wrong reason.
Fantastic read!
(Plus, all the New Orleans and Louisiana bells ring true, Morgus!)
Thanks for letting me read your book!
October 4, 2020
Very interesting, especially now
While the current pandemic is no where near as bad as the one presented in this book, it still touches on quite a few things resembling the present. Besides that, it is a well written page turner that will have you staying up until 3 am to finish it. (Ask me how I know).
10/10 definitely recommend!
While the current pandemic is no where near as bad as the one presented in this book, it still touches on quite a few things resembling the present. Besides that, it is a well written page turner that will have you staying up until 3 am to finish it. (Ask me how I know).
10/10 definitely recommend!
February 4, 2025
Careless writing, terrible editing. Good story. Some excellent descriptions and evocative language in places. Unfortunately, clearly slapdash. Poor grammar, clumsy language in many places.
Obviously churned out and not rewritten/edited carefully. A shame, because it could have been really good. As it was, I almost abandoned it, it was so irritating.
Obviously churned out and not rewritten/edited carefully. A shame, because it could have been really good. As it was, I almost abandoned it, it was so irritating.
September 29, 2020
Exceptional. Gripping from beginning to end. Fast paced with fully developed characters. A must read!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews