What a book. David Oppegaard takes the dystopian novel and manages to create something new and horrifying. In the not-so-distant future, few people are left in the world due to wide spread epidemic called the Despair. There is no cure and no known reason why the majority of the human race succumbs to the Despair which results in suicide. To add to the creepy factor, Suicide Collectors show up to retrieve any body that died from a result of a suicide. How the Suicide Collectors know about the suicides, why they collect only the bodies of the Despair victims, and where they take the bodies are part of the mystery of the story. Be warned, though. If you want answers or a story with a tidy ending, you will not find it in this book. Instead, you get a story like the Odyssey, one of a journey both physical and emotional. Like Odysseus, Norman, the protagonist, faces monsters and receives assistance, while fighting his way to Seattle where rumors abound that a doctor has found a cure for the Despair.

Oppegaard's writing is crisp and clean and he writes only what is necessary. He successfully juggles adventure, love, horror, and suspense without sacrificing great writing.