Can you imagine writing a novel about a flu variant pandemic only for it to be published 1.5 months into a real-life flu variant pandemic?

Lawrence Wright also wrote the Scientology exposé <i>Going Clear</i>. We see him flirting a bit with that religious preoccupation here, with the protagonist Henry’s steadfast atheism, his med school buddy’s devout Islam and the scenes at Mecca, Henry’s parents’ fanaticism, and the keepsake Quran. These religious threads are dropped in the last third of the novel and aren’t picked up again, though, which seemed strange to me. Why include them in the first place, then?

Wright’s careful research is on display again here, too, utilized now in a fictional setting. Nearly 3 years into COVID-19, it’s eerie to see how accurately he predicted the societal response (blaming of the demographic group deemed to be the origin of the disease, the runs on supplies like toilet paper), the US government response (where the leaders aren’t named but it’s clear from the descriptions of a heavily tanned president with several self-serving adult children and an evangelical vice president who Wright is referring to), and the geopolitical ramifications (Russia taking advantage to invade Ukraine). We should all be grateful that the more horrifying scenarios Wright describes didn’t come to pass — perhaps only because COVID is less virulent than the fictional Congoli.

One complaint is that several of the secondary characters were one-dimensional ciphers: Jill the needy wife, Teddy the handy son, Tildy the ambitious politico.

Overall this was an interesting novel, but I’m glad not to have read it when it was first published. Given the many similarities to how COVID has played out, reading about what this fictional pandemic led to would have been terrifying.

Full of fascinating information from public health and security experts, the book is eerily timely. But ultimately as fiction, the book falls flat with the writing and plotting feeling more like a screenplay treatment than a fully developed novel.

This book was… woah! It was so interesting to read this well researched book about a pandemic in the midst of an actual pandemic. Somethings were so spot on it was eerie. It was gory at times and I found the violence very disturbing. I understand the point of it though.

While written before COVID captures the life we've all been living since the pandemic began. This book tells the story of a much more virulent disease with the near-collapse of society. This is what COVID could have been.

Prescient? Yes. Good? Not really.

It's a shame, because I've enjoyed Wright's nonfiction books and the parts of this story that were clearly based on research were interesting. The events of the book and the COVID-19 pandemic are pretty far apart, but there are certainly recognizable echoes. We're lucky things weren't far worse.

I wish he'd just written a book about pandemics and left out the lackluster fiction parts....

Received a review copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wright clearly did his research for this novel that bears eerie resemblance to the last ten months we have all lived through....right down to the heroic, brilliant, diminutive, epidemiologist at the center of the raging pandemic. There is a lot of information on these pages that delves into viruses, the process for the creation of vaccines, world politics, & especially Russia’s mission to destroy Democracy.
Recommended.

Excellent, and timely, story about a global pandemic. See my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3345185148

You can't ask for a more timely book! It fascinating to see all the parallels between our present day situation and the action in the book.. I would have liked some better character development. The passages with points of view from minor characters seemed thrown in to help tell the story. I was left to want either more from them or for everything told from one point of view.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy of The End of October.

The irony of reading a book about a global pandemic during an actual pandemic is not lost on me. The parallels between 2020 and this book are striking. Reactions from the government and people are very similar, even though they are 2 very different viruses.

This book was fine, if not a bit dry occasionally. There was a lot of history of other pandemics and medical jargon, which would have been fine, but it lacked emotions. I didn’t connect with most of the characters, and would have preferred more of Jill, Helen and Teddy’s perspective as they were the most relatable.

I was hesitant to read this book considering the times in which we are living, but I gave it a whirl, promising myself I could confidently put it down if it was too much for me. Here's the deal: this book is a lot. It's uncomfortably realistic and scary, but so flipping good!

A frightening, fictional story about a flu-type pandemic that destroys much of society. It is particularly apt for our times. So much so that when I first picked it up a couple of months ago, I had to set it aside for awhile as it was too real and upsetting. However, Mr. Wright has taken his tale beyond our current Covid-19 crisis . . . at least I hope that is the case! It is a thoroughly researched book with a great deal of scientific information regarding viruses and histories of past pandemics. He predicted much of what has already occurred with the political and economic climate. He describes how rapidly society breaks down and leads to wars, bio terrorism, cyberattacks, etc. The beginning of the book is quite technical but later develops a more human aspect to the story. The ending leaves the reader thinking.

Well, in light of everything happening in the world right now, this was eerily prescient. Wright basically outlines the entire narrative of what has happened in the world with the global pandemic of Covid. In his book, the virus is called Kongoli and follows a similar trajectory to everything our society has recently experienced. It was pretty creepy knowing he researched and wrote this book well before this happened! I found myself engrossed in the story and enjoyed this book a lot, even if it did hit a little too close to home! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book. Opinions are my own.

There may be spoilers ahead.



The End of October is Lawrence Wright's second fiction offering, and it's evident he's primarily a non-fiction writer. October is full of facts, research, and explanation. Often, too full. Wright expands endlessly on vaccines, viruses, and Russia/US/Middle Eastern relations. These long discussions weighed down the pacing and I found myself skipping large paragraphs of exposition. October honestly just tried to do too much. The Russia/Tildy storyline could have been halved or excluded completely and the book would have been better for it.

It's also obvious that Lawrence has little experience with fiction writing based on the multiple plot holes (Henry's inability to get out of the Middle East, the children's survival, Henry's disability that only seems to affect him when it's convenient, the ending scenes, etc). There was so much happening in-country, which was unexplored and that I had to assume or invent for myself.

The End of October could have been a gripping, timely pandemic thriller. Instead, it plodded along through long technical paragraphs and clunky dialogue.

Lawrence Wright paints a gripping story that has the reader hooked and filled with a kind of dread from the beginning. The End of October is almost to real to read at this moment, but you keep reading anyway because of Wright's cast of characters and thrilling plot.

I'm torn on how to rate and review this book. The beginning was good and showed a lot of promise, considering it was about a pandemic and was extremely similar to current situations. The book has a lot of information, so I know the author conducted much research. Some of the problems I had with the novel are that there are too many things happening. The pandemic was enough for a good story, but the author added in so many other things that it became overwhelming. The characters were not fleshed out enough and there were so many backstories (some that seemed completely irrelevant) and too much time-skipping (I never really knew how much time had passed and probably would have enjoyed reading about the time that had passed instead of just skipping it). I found several problems with the MC as well, but I don't want to be too picky about him. By the end of the book, I did not care about the characters but just wanted the book to be over.

This book started out about a pandemic, which is on everyone's minds right now, but then fell into a doomsday story, which brought in so many more complications to the plot. It distrubed me that there wa a lot of unanswered questions: what happened to the Saudi Prince, how did Henry find his kids, how did he negotiate having his children on a submarine for possibly years..., etc. I think especially with the investment in Henry's family, I was shocked to discover (spoiler alert) that he killed off Jill and did not show the reunion between father and children that we had been so looking forward to. I did think that the explanations and scientific information about influenza and viruses was good--I'm assuming he researched it as i don't know that much about diseases. It was a fast read, but I think there was too much to the story--including Henry's old boss as a part, my focus was just in too many places.

When I told people what I was reading, almost without exception, they recoiled in horror at the thought of experiencing another pandemic, even vicariously. I admit The End of October does take you through a worldwide epidemic, but from the perspective of a foremost epidemiologist searching for answers. In fact the reader goes far deeper into the cause and effects of this highly contagious and fatal disease than the daily reports we get in our local news sources.
However, as we know, with knowledge comes power. Despite the graphic descriptions of illness and the resulting collapse of society, the reader feels a certain degree of comfort that it is Henry Parsons who is guiding us through this worldwide crisis, because, as author Lawrence Wright assures us “In the never-ending war on emerging diseases, Henry Parsons was not a small man; he was a giant.”
Lawrence Wright is an award-winning author of nonfiction, and he has really done his homework. One can assume that this manuscript was complete before reports began coming out of China about this new virus, and yet the scenarios recounted here are chilling in their similarity to current events.
What makes this book more than a Robin Cook knock-off is the quality of the writing. The author lets us see into the mind of a very complicated man, a scientist who has rejected religion but who seeks for Spiritual answers. A husband and father with a deprived childhood who yearns for Family while racked with guilt for abandoning his own to save the world. We see a hero with the body of a cripple. It is a lot to take in.
We also shift perspectives and, in a world turned upside down, we watch Henry’s young daughter cope with the horrors of life without parents or any kind of social safety net. Frankly, I felt more like 12 year old Helen than her father in my ability to problem solve. It brought the story out of the realm of science fiction and gave it a human face.
Another facet of the story which was unique is the relationship between Henry and Prince Majid, a member of the Saudi royal family, a devout Muslim and a doctor. Some of the best parts of the book were conversations between these two men of science trying to find common ground in their search for a cause and cure for the pandemic.
The action of the story covers the world from a prison camp for homosexuals in Indonesia, to the yearly Haj to Mecca, to a nuclear submarine as Henry attempts to return to the United States when all the world is under Lock Down. The author gives us history, science and possible scenarios for the future. Your head will be spinning but by the end you will be glad to have gone on the journey.

A good book. Headlines ripped from it rather than the usual other way around. Well researched. Interesting medical facts for the time.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing and ARC.

I love a hard science read, especially one combined with a thriller. I was hoping to get a modern take on The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson, one of my favorite reads, and it started that way, but ended up in a very different place. It starts as a science thriller about a disease, turns to a military story, then ends up an environmental dystopia, and doesn't do justice to any of them.

My two minute review:

Pros: Very well researched book takes you all over the world on the tail of a catastrophe.

Cons: This book doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up. It could have been a very compelling story if the disease plot-line had been followed exclusively. There are huge plot jumps for characters and so many side plots left undeveloped. I find it hard to believe that the main character would not do everything to find his family, especially since he had access to what was left of the government. I was barely hanging on with the book at that point, and disaster fiction is my jam.

Recommended for: people who like military fiction, hard science, and have a wide acceptance of plot styles

Trigger warnings: sexual violence, violence in general

Because The End of October, by Lawrence Wright, is fiction, I figured I was safe and wouldn’t have sleepless nights after reading it (as was the case with Richard Preston’s The Hot Zone and Laurie Garrett’s The Coming Plague). “Medical thriller,” I thought. “Sounds good.” So, even though it is May 2020 and we are in the midst of a global pandemic with COVID-19, I was happy to receive a copy from Knopf Doubleday and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and jumped right in. I was intrigued and admittedly hoped that it would have a positive tone or perhaps a happy ending (vaccine, anyone?) and that the current reality might thus become a bit less unsettling. Dare to dream, right?!

In this riveting story, a devastating virus begins in Asia and starts to spread around the globe. (Ouch). As things unfold, an epidemiologist/microbiologist named Henry Parsons begins to investigate on behalf of the World Health Organization, traveling to a refugee camp (or possibly an internment camp? I’m not sure and am too freaked out to go back and check) in Indonesia. A man who is infected with the virus leaves Indonesia to join the millions of worshippers who are headed to Mecca for the annual hajj. Yikes! Henry and a few others (including a Saudi prince) try to quarantine the whole bunch. What could possibly go wrong?

Meanwhile, the Deputy Director of Homeland Security in the U.S., who happens to be a woman from Russia, thinks biowarfare might be involved, and then global relations start to snap (sound familiar?). A really bleak picture of life in the U.S. unfolds as the population is decimated while religious, scientific, and governmental institutions fall apart. TBH, I was getting more and more freaked out as I read.

I don’t do spoilers, so I won’t reveal what happens to either Henry and his family or the world at large, but I WILL say I have definitely not been sleeping well. The book is packed with accounts of historic plagues and pandemics, information about viruses and pathogens. Heavy on factual data, it is not too technical for the general reader…but may be too scary for some. Wright is a terrific writer. Five stars.