Lee Allen's Blog - Posts Tagged "apocalyptic-thriller"

The Stand by Stephen King

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A thrilling, apocalyptic epic from the Master of Horror.

'The Stand' is one of Stephen King's early masterpieces, published following 'The Shining' the previous year, but is entirely different in many ways - in theme, tone, scale and, most notably, the source of the horror inflicted on its characters.

The novel begins with a man hurriedly waking his wife in the middle of the night, making an escape with their daughter from an army base. Something has gone terribly wrong and he wants to get them as far as away as possible. They escape, but it is already too late - the man is infected with a manufactured strain of flu and it is now uncontained, leading to a plague that will kill almost the entire human population.

The first part of the novel deals with the spread of the plague, introducing us to many of the main characters through their experience of the superflu pandemic. Numerous attempts to contain the plague by the authorities fail as society steadily falls to pieces, people fall ill and die, and the survivors wait and wonder when it will be their turn. This story could have been a novel in itself, drawing you in to the disintegrating lives of a large cast of characters.

In the second part of the novel, we journey across a derelict USA with the surviving characters, who begin to form groups as they meet up on their journeys. Many soon realise they are experiencing the same dreams - of a dark man who walks the roads at night and an old woman waiting patiently in her Nebraska home. Drawn by these shared visions, the characters find themselves being steered into a battle between good and evil, the old woman in the East representing Good, and the dark man in the West representing Evil.

The group of survivors drawn to the old woman, Mother Abagail, form a democratic society known as the Free Zone. But there are tensions from within that threaten to boil over, while in the meantime the society formed by the dark man, Randall Flagg, is building its power in the West.

In the final part of the novel, the showdown between Good and Evil begins. A small group heads west, building to the final confrontation with Randall Flagg, on which hinges the future of the Free Zone and the survival of everyone in it.

Through every one of the book's 1300+ pages, you are completely immersed in the lives of the characters and the biblical scale of events. You witness humanity at its worst and its best, the narrative taking over your life for weeks. You witness humanity's destruction and how that feels for each individual left behind. You witness attempts to build societies again from what is left behind and wonder if it could ever be possible for humanity to live in true peace and harmony.

'The Stand' is a fantastic portrayal of its themes and subject matter, an epic odyssey that leaves you with a deeply satisfying conclusion and a feeling of sadness at having to leave the characters behind. I shall miss reading about them and the challenges they have faced. Perhaps one day I shall have the pleasure of meeting them again.

Of course, one character whom I shall definitely meet again will be Randall Flagg. Flagg establishes himself as one of King's most evil villains in this early tale and he has gone on to feature in many others, notably the epic fantasy 'The Dark Tower' series. It seems that evil truly can never die after all...



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Bird Box by Josh Malerman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A chilling psychological horror thriller about a woman’s fight for survival for herself and her two young children.

‘Bird Box’ is a post-apocalyptic tale, led by Malorie, who, after years of waiting, decides the day that she and her two young children will escape the home that has become their prison has arrived. She lives in a future where it is no longer safe to see in the world outside. Blindfolded, they make their way to a boat and begin their journey on the river.

Flashbacks reveal how, years before, Malorie was living with her sister when she discovered she was pregnant, just as the attacks were first beginning. People were attacking and killing each other and finally themselves. Speculation grew and it soon became clear that all the attacks and deaths happened after the victims saw something. Malorie finds her way to other survivors; a group of them living in the house of a man who tragically died while striving to find a way to overcome what lay outside.

Malerman expertly builds paranoid tension, drawing out each of the characters’ fears, exploring how the deprivation of sight affects them. The survivors strive to find ways to live, while the mistrust between them begins to bloom. The arrival of a new survivor builds more tension, while the creatures outside may be closer than they dare to believe.

Captivating and unsettling in equal measure, ‘Bird Box’ is a fantastic debut novel; Malerman expertly builds the horror to a crescendo, never letting the tension slip throughout. The characters are well-developed, driving the plot forward, particularly Malorie, Tom and Gary.

I shall be adding Malerman’s others books to my future to-read list and am also eager to see the Netflix adaption starring Sandra Bullock.



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Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A supernaturally-charged apocalyptic epic from Stephen King and his son Owen King.

Stephen King, as well as being a master of horror, is known for his apocalyptic epics, amongst them the superlative ‘The Stand’, and this novel is evidence that his son Owen also possesses the same skill and imagination. Such stories are incredibly timely in the current global political climate, the authors evoking the unease and societal disintegration that can escape no one’s attention in the age of technology and social media.

The novel takes place in the town of Dooling, while all around the world women are falling prey to a mysterious pandemic – they fall into a sleep from which they don’t wake, cocoons developing around their slumbering bodies, a phenomena that becomes known as Aurora, named after the princess in the Disney adaption of the ‘Sleeping Beauty’ fairy tale. Concerned and panicked men attempt to break some of these cocoons, with fatal consequences. Meanwhile, a preternatural woman, Evie, has arrived in Dooling, destroying a meth lab and killing the drug dealers with her bare hands, which brings her to the attention of local sheriff, Lila Norcross. Lila’s husband, Clint, is a psychiatrist at the nearby women’s prison, where Aurora begins to affect the inmates.

As more women and girls fall prey to Aurora, anarchy rises, men either giving up or allowing aggression to rise to the surface. It takes little time for society to begin crumbling, organisations such as the sheriff’s department, hospitals and the correctional facilities succumbing to the strain. Volunteers step into the breach, but their intentions may not be altruistic, motivated instead by their own agendas. Amongst the terror and panic, it becomes clear that Evie is different to all the other women – she can sleep and wake again, unaffected by Aurora.

While our world is falling to pieces, the sleeping women find themselves in a new world and must face the challenges of their separation from their male loved ones and the opportunity to live life without the dominance and aggression of men. The novel explores this delicately - another crucial theme at a time when women are fighting back against their abusers, while as a society we are striving to achieve gender equality and snuff out patriarchal prejudices. Politically, prejudice is a monster from which society is struggling to shake free; the novel explores how we should depart from the mistakes of the past – whether we should cut ties and start over, or learn from past mistakes and move into the future.

The novel climaxes in a showdown between the remaining correctional staff and the volunteer/vigilante sheriff’s department, as Clint fights to protect Evie from the growing mob that is convinced she holds the answer to bringing an end to Aurora. The answer may surprise them, which leads to a thought-provoking conclusion.

Arresting and emotive, ‘Sleeping Beauties’ is an immersive experience, as all King epics are. You live with the characters through their journeys, arriving at a satisfying ending that stays with you after the final page. Evie is captivating, reminding me at times of another Stephen King character, with her supernatural abilities and smooth palms, but she proves to be more morally ambiguous than outright evil. It would be intriguing if either or both of the Kings were to revisit her in the future.

A fantastic and thoroughly enjoyable novel, with plot, characters and themes blending to create a thrilling concoction.



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