SURVIVOR SONG

RELEASED OUT NOW! 336 pages | Paperback/ebook

Author Paul Tremblay

Publisher Titan Books

“This is not a fairy tale” begins Survivor Song, the latest literary horror from A Head Full Of Ghosts author Paul Tremblay, who’s fast becoming one of the most distinctive and exciting genre writers around. With no good vs evil, no supernatural element and – spoilers! – certainly no happily ever after, this is Tremblay’s most grounded work yet.

It’s set during an outbreak of a deadly strain of rabies where people are told to stay indoors, there’s a shortage of adequate PPE and hospitals are pushed to breaking point, but through which doctors like Ramola have little choice but to carry on going to work regardless. (Sound familiar?) When her pregnant best friend Natalie calls to say her husband’s dead and she’s been bitten, the two embark on a search for safety that plays out in near real time.

It’s a propulsive and thrilling race against time novel, a love letter to friendships of different kinds and an exploration of the horror of being the ones left behind. Tremblay says this is his twist on the zombie genre, though don’t expect clichéd tropes. Instead this is a lyrical, emotional, sometimes funny character study that’s highly relevant to the world in which we currently live.

Survivor Song could be Tremblay’s bleakest book yet but it’s also one of his best. It’s not a fairy tale, that’s true enough, but there’s magic in these pages nonetheless.

Rosie Fletcher