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Book Review: Return to Q Island by Russell James

Return to Q Island by Russell James

MLG Publishing, 2017

ISBN-13: 978-1546357209

Available:  Paperback, Kindle edition

 

Return to Q Island is the sequel to Q Island (see my previous review for Monster Librarian at http://www.monsterlibrarian.com/TheCirculationDesk/book-review-q-island-by-russell-james/).  The paleovirus, spread by bite and spores that erupt from the bodies of the stricken, has overtaken the government-quarantined Long Island, long since nicknamed Q Island. Residents are turning into killers. The quarantine has separated family and friends.

Patrick is in Connecticut, bereft of his mother and pregnant sister. When he loses contact with them and sees the money he leaves in an account for them is untouched, he is compelled to break into the island millions want to leave. His only option to break in is to join up with an illegal safari hunting the infected, as a guide. Patrick discovers his role is closer to that of a slave than a guide, and the infected are even more dangerous than he once thought.

While Patrick is beginning his venture, his sister Kim gives birth to a surprisingly healthy Charlotte on the island. Kim discovers she must protect herself and her daughter from attacks not only by the infected, but by family and the community as well. As Kim fights for their survival, she finds out that Charlotte is very special, to human and paleo alike.

The sequel makes a sharp separation from the first novel, in that we see a completely changed world, and a departure from the characters in Q Island. It was interesting to see James’ vision of the quarantined island, and how the disease has affected humanity, for good or ill. It’s even more terrifying than the first book. There were a few times I actually had to put the book down for a second before continuing, simply because it was so intense. There are also significant character arcs that happen for Patrick and Kim, as well as for a few of the ancillary characters that help to define our main characters. Recommended for adult readers.

Contains: abuse, body horror, gore, graphic violence, rape

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Book Review: The Binding by Nicholas Wolff

The Binding by Nicholas Wolff

Gallery Books, June 2016

ISBN-13: 978-1501102714

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

 

A dark and foreboding atmosphere is established on the very first page of Nicholas Wolff’s The Binding, and the story, which for a short time, seems like it will be relatively straightforward, quickly makes a turn into even darker and more disturbing territory.

Northam, Massachusetts has serious problems. The recent, bizarre, and gory murder of college student Margaret Post is in the news, an unsolved crime that unsettles and disturbs John Bailey, the policeman who arrived at the scene. Dr. Nat Turner is the psychiatrist on night shift at the community clinic when the distressed and haunted-looking father of teenage Becca Prescott arrives, and asks for help for his daughter: she no longer recognizes him, and insists that she is dead. Divorce lawyer Chuck Godwin is certain he is being stalked by an apparition. First grader Charlie Bailey, examining the family photos hanging in the hallway, senses that the stories he’s been told about them are incomplete, and that something there is seriously wrong. Suicides are up, and bodies are missing. Is it all chance, or is something more going on?

There’s a common trope running underneath the plot of The Binding, but the action takes some surprising directions before that trope  is revealed. Unfortunately, much of the reveal takes place during an awkward interruption of the story with a long, detailed, but not very helpful chunk of exposition from someone who is not a direct witness to the events described. This breaks the pacing and suspense just as we’re building to the climax of the story. The conclusion to the story is another awkward piece of exposition by a person not acquainted with the events of the story, undermining the sense of foreboding established at the beginning of the book and leaving the reader feeling as if the story is incomplete. Some relationships also seem unbelievable, particularly the one between Nat and Becca. Despite the extended expository sequences and improbable relationships, however, The Binding is still an atmospheric, compelling, tangle of a story that will stick with you after you are done. Recommended.

Contains: cannibalism, torture, mutilation, gruesome scenes, suicide, murder, implied necrophilia, corpse stealing

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Book Review: Q Island by Russell James

Q Island by Russell James

Samhain Publishing, 2015

ISBN: 978-1619229792

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Q Island begins from the point of view of a baby woolly mammoth, watching its herd die from a mysterious ailment, one that soon takes its own short life. Fast forward to the present, as the mammoth, recently discovered frozen in ice, is delivered to a wealthy man with a taste for the unusual, and a terrifying disease is unleashed on the world. The mammoth carries a paleovirus that attacks the body, leaving highly identifiable physical changes, and unpredictable mental and psychological changes. The latter results in deadly consequences for anyone unlucky enough to get near the afflicted. The government quarantines Long Island, hoping to contain the virus and prevent the spread of a terror the world has not seen for thousands of years.

The reader meets several characters whose lives converge on Q Island, for good or ill. Melanie Bailey tries to navigate not only the new world she finds herself trapped in, but her relationship with her husband, who is not on the island. Her autistic son, Aiden, comes into contact with the paleovirus with unique results. He could be fundamental to finding the cure, if he and Melanie can escape Q Island before its inhabitants get them. Tamara, a divorced nurse, experiences firsthand what a person with the paleovirus is capable of when she is confronted by Patient Zero. Elderly Dr. Samuel Bradshaw, who once worked on the Ebola virus in Africa, now finds himself working on a cure for the paleovirus, but to what end? Jimmy, an unsuccessful small-time gang leader afflicted with the virus, becomes far more dangerous when he succumbs to it. An overcompensating survivalist rules the dwellers of a gated community with an iron fist.

While it sounds confusing, the weaving of the characters’ lives in the novel worked exceptionally well. With the introduction of each new character I was concerned I would have a hard time following the multiple storylines, but James kept the action going, and it was interesting to see how lives intertwined.

For the most part, James writes very believable and real characters. At first, I was annoyed with the portrayal of Melanie as she seemed constantly exasperated with her autistic son, and resentful of her husband. However, the strained relationship between husband and wife, her feelings of powerlessness, plus being the sole caregiver for a high-needs child, makes her seem more real. Essentially she’s doing everything by herself, and she finds herself quarantined on an island with the afflicted, the worst of humanity, and the best of humanity as well. The more her story unfolds, the more the reader finds there is more to Melanie.

However, her son, Aiden, was not very believable to me. He’s written as a stereotypical autistic character. There are too many representations of autistic people depicted the same way, with every possible red flag characteristic noted in the DSM-V.  Not every person on the autism spectrum has nonverbal (whether by choice or ability) or uncommunicative behaviors, rocks or keens in times of stress or displeasure, operates in obsessive compulsive ways, lacks outward emotional awareness or expression, or walks with an odd gait, just to name a few. At best, this character was off-putting, as it perpetuates a stereotype of an autistic person, and at worst it could be harmful to the progress made by the autism community.

The paleovirus itself is frighteningly well done, in terms of its communicability and what it does to the human body– it passes from host to host in multiple ways, making it a very difficult virus for which to develop a cure. The treatment of the paleovirus throughout the book reflects the time James put into his research. Let’s hope something as bad as this virus never comes to fruition.  Recommended for adult readers.

Contains: Body horror, gore, graphic violence, sexual assault

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker