Read: Chapter 72

[Karen]

Read to the end of chapter 72 (end of book) by 19/07/20.

Leave your insights and comments below.

[Patrick]

Was the ending in the film different? I kind of liked how it was sort of like Day of Triffids but the plants win...

[Karen]

I think it was roughly similar, but it’s been a while since I saw the movie. She definitely ended up trading places with Melanie and being the one who was contained in the school.

I did particularly like the part where you realise that both as a reader, and as the character in the book, that everyone now trusts Melanie, so the Ophiocordyceps has already won at that point, because it had controlled its upcoming hosts’ minds before they were even infected. No one trusted her at the start, but by those final chapters they were letting her go off and run around the place, not even considering she would betray them.

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled, was convincing the world he didn’t exist.

[Patrick]

In that light, Caldwell was the one character whom the Ophiocordyceps was never able to control. But some good old-fashioned bacteria was able to finish her off...

[Sarah]

The ending... is the only difference. The last line, more or less, just flips the whole meaning in a different direction. It's so subtle, but omg struck me so much when I saw the movie!