For fans of Stephen King's The Stand and films like 28 Days Later, Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay is a 'what if' scenario that feels perhaps a bit close to home these days. Two women, one a doctor and one eight months pregnant, fight their way through a hostile landscape during a rabies-like outbreak that causes humans and animals to become violent. They need to get to a hospital, for the baby, but will a hospital even provide the safety and resources required? This was a tense and stressful (in the best way) journey. Following Natalie and Ramola through this societal and medical emergency felt personal. And while the book was focused on this one story in the midst of absolute chaos, the stakes felt extremely high. Survivor's Song is an incredible work of fiction that mirrored reality during the time of publication, and that makes it a fascinating work of art.

I tend to be wary of post-apocalyptic horror books. From past experiences, they're incredibly challenging to write WELL, and I find the vast majority of them to be frustrating, unrealistic, and repetitive as a result. Add zombies into the picture, and I'm immediately worried that the book is going to be a poor attempt at replicating The Walking Dead. Factoring in the recency of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated stir-craziness, and I was even more reluctant to dive into a post-apocalyptic book that felt a little too close to realistic for comfort. But I had heard excellent things about Tremblay's previous works, and the premise of this one immediately caught my eye. When I received an ARC of the book, I was excited to dive in!

This book is a fast-paced whirlwind of a story with little to no downtime. I enjoyed the rapidity of the pace - it felt particularly fitting in the context of the plot, and it helped to immediately draw me into the tale. The plot itself covered a very short timeframe - only a few days - and these days were jam-packed with twists, turns, and more than enough action. Twists and turns certainly weren't the focal point of this one, and I found it far better suited for the horror genre than the thriller genre as a result. The plot wasn't necessarily surprising or difficult to predict, but the book was far more focused on the emotional execution and underlying implications of the rabies-like virus. The parallels with the COVID-19 pandemic further added to the uncomfortably realistic horror scenes and post-apocalyptic setting.

I had difficulty putting this one down, and I found myself constantly thinking about the characters and the dilemmas they were facing whenever I did step away. The narrative felt appropriately high-stakes, and Tremblay didn't shy away from killing off characters left and right. This added an additional frenetic component to the underlying tale, helping to build suspense and reader anxiety as the story progressed.

The characters were complex, multi-faceted, and three dimension, allowing me to easily connect with each of them and raising the stakes even higher as the book progressed. They were highly relatable and well fleshed-out, and their fear was palpable when they were thrust in life-threatening situations. The relationship between the two protagonists infused even more emotion into the tale, and I was rooting for each of them for the entirety of the book, despite the odds against them.

The writing was fantastic and immediately drew me into the tale. I appreciated the balance between horror and humor, and the humor truly helped to cut the tension and humanize the characters. The horror scenes were truly terrifying and made my blood run cold at times. I couldn't look away while reading these scenes, and I felt as if I was truly immersed in the story and encountering the nightmarish situation alongside each of the characters. Personally, I found the horror to be very reminiscent of Stephen King's horror in all of the right ways - although I wasn't able to identify any specific similarities that caused me to make this connection while reading. Overall, I loved the premise, horrifying elements, and execution of this book, and Paul Tremblay is one of the newest additions to my list of favorite horror authors!

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is not my normal genre so not sure how to fairly rate this. I thought the story moved pretty well and the characters were good. I just couldn’t get past the rabies pandemic but that it was isolated to Massachusetts’s. If you were a fan of The Walking Dead, I imagine this book would be a good choice.

This was, unfortunately, quite a difficult read for me when it first came out in 2020. Any virus-like book in 2020 was bound to be a difficult book for me due to the many issues of 2020 and my personal triggers from it. However, the writing was not bad, if my memory serves me. I will probably retry this one in a few years to give it another chance.

-- This review is several years past the review date due to the many issues of 2020, but a huge thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early copy of the book.

I wanted to enjoy this more than I did. I'm a huge Paul Tremblay fan. I especially loved A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin at the End of the World, but I just couldn't connect to this story. I still think that Tremblay is an amazing writer, and he remains one of my go to horror/thriller authors. This book wasn't for me this time, but I know that fans of Tremblay will most likely still enjoy this book.

SURVIVOR SONG released in July 2020, so surely it had been written prior to the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Yet it is a remarkably prescient tale; even though the contagious virus is different (a mutant variation of a common already existent virus) and even though the transmission vector diverges (and is this case is far more violent than breathing in the virus), the novel provides an all too familiar look back at the recent past.

I felt that the story's length could have been reduced by 20-25%, as toward the conclusion it seemed to go on and on (primarily the final experience of the two female protagonists), and I haven't reached my mental conclusion about the postlude, as to whether that additional material helped or hindered.

However, I acclaim the remarkably strong female characters: there are two protagonists of equal weight, both female, and at least 4 other strong, determined, female characters, each of whom noticeably impacts the story. The riffs on friendship (the two protagonists especially, but also a pair of secondary characters later in the story) are inspiring and hopeful. There's also a riff on the extreme to which anti-vaccination conspiracy conviction and refusal of scientific thinking and logic can run.

Paul takes on an epic journey, a roller coaster of emotions, and the evolution of a pandemic, all in the course of like six hours. Unbelievable. Amazing work.

This was a little odd to read especially considering we are in a pandemic, granted not the same sort. Fast paced, emotional read.

Tremblay's SURVIVOR SONG will be misunderstood by many prospective readers until they actually sit down and read the novel, because when summarized, it sure sounds a lot like it's gonna be about one thing (a story about zombies) or another thing (a dreadful new angle on the end of the world) or maybe even a third thing (a story of human survival). Some may even call it prophetic, and they wouldn't be wrong.

But the reality is that it's none of those things, and, in a way, ALL of those things.

SURVIVOR SONG, like many of Tremblay's novels, is slippery when trying to be defined or categorized (sorry Barnes & Noble book-shelvers). Is it horror? Well, it's certainly horrific. And horrible things happen. Is it a thriller? Well, it's thrilling, all right. Good gosh.

That said, SURVIVOR SONG, to me, is more a story about a small group of average people just trying to do the right thing, and the sacrifice that trying to do the right thing might entail.

So there, it's actually a character study. With rabies.

If you're familiar with Tremblay's novels, or even his short fiction, you'll understand what I'm talking about when I say how hard it is to define, or categorize, his work. Because although there are certainly horrible and thrilling things afoot, at the end of the day you're reading a story about everyday people in a very (VERY) real situation, being forced to make impossibly difficult decisions.

So, if we need to categorize it, I think I'd go with TRAGEDY. That's right, I made up a whole new thing, because it's as close as I can get to defining what happens in Tremblay's novels--human tragedy on a human scale. Because what makes something tragic is not that it's scary, or supernatural, or action-packed, it's that it's real, and it could happen to any of us.

In fact, and this is the most Tragic thing of all, it already is.

I love Paul Tremblay's writing and novels. However, this one for me felt like it was lacking a little creativity. There were too many parallels to the Walking Dead, and I guess, in reality how many different ways can you portray that zombie appocolipse pandemic vibe? It was enjoyable, but not one of my most favorite by him.

A wild ride following a pregnant woman and her friend, as they frantically try to get medical help during an outbreak of super rabies. A frenetic pace, a heartwarming story of love and loss, and an exciting cross over of some characters from another of Paul's books! Excellent read.

Wow! This is one that kept me reading. Friends Ramona and Natalie are trying to get to a hospital to deliver Natalie's baby during a terrifying rabies-like outbreak. If you can deal with with a pandemic type read, I highly recommend this one. I enjoyed the super fast pace and short timeline.

Paul Tremblay writes real horror--the horror that real life could turn into one of his novels. Any time I read one of his books, I know I'm going to be hit hard with a reading slump after because he is so good. Survivor Song was like that for me. Following healthy people seeking safety as a terrible zombie type virus suddenly sweeps over the world. I love how he drilled down the focus to just a few characters and how it really represented real life in that these characters were not the scientists or heroes like you would find in a film. Just regular people caught up in a bad situation.

3.5
This was such a strange book to read with the state of the world, what it has been for the past two years, or is it three now? For all I know it could be 5, or so it seems. Anyway, it was a strange thing to be reading this book and looking up at the TV screen to see the words “virus” and “pandemic” across the bottom.
In a short amount of weeks, Massachusetts has been inflicted with a terrible rabies-like virus that is spread by saliva. Unlike rabies though, this disease has an extremely short incubation period of an hour or less. Those who are infected are driven to bite and infect others all the while quickly losing their minds. Hospitals are overcrowded with the sick and dying. Hysteria is running rampant. To try to contain the virus, there are curfews and quarantines.
Dr. Ramola Sherman, or Rams, is a pediatrician in her 30’s. When she receives a frantic call from a very pregnant friend, Natalie, she doesn’t hesitate to help. Natalie’s husband was killed viciously and Natalie was bitten as well. Her only chance to survive is to get to a hospital as quickly as possible and time is running out.
This book is sort of a road trip book if road trips were absolutely terrifying and you were facing death at the end. It has some pretty scary elements and times when you just don’t want certain things to happen but they probably will because it’s not a nice little sugar coated story.
If you like pandemic, virus, disease, and sort of zombie but not stories you may find that this is to your liking.

This novel had my heart pounding the entire time, and I was so quickly filled with dread that this novel flew by me in a short time. I adore the writing style of Paul Tremblay as usual, and this has been a great addition to our collection of books at our library.

Outstanding!!! So tense!!! If you're no longer frightened by zombies, if "The Walking Dead" now leaves you yawning..."Survivor Song" will readjust you quickly. A great, great read full of depth and humanity, humor and tears, friendship and loss, it's impossible to put down. Tremblay is easily one of the most imaginative and creative writers in the field, but he reaches a new height with "Survivor Song". Just....wow.

Unfortunately, this one just didn’t do it for me. It may work for others, but I couldn’t jive with the plot. I would like to give it another chance in the future!

Under different circumstances I think I might have liked this book more….but having a pregnant best friend during a pandemic just make this one hard to stomach.

I liked the friendship between Nats and Rams and I definitely would have done the same things Rams did and more to try and save my friend.

In a very TIMELY manner, this is a book written in the present that involves a rabies-type virus that is spreading out of control. This specific mutation spreads very quickly and replicates even faster. Those infected quickly show signs and once that happens.... game over. Rams is a local MD who gets a frantic call from her college friend, Natalie. Natalie is VERY pregnant and also VERY recently exposed to this rabies-type virus. As the story unfolds, it becomes a race against time for Rams to save Natalie. But is there enough time left?

As stated above, it was an interesting book to read in a time when there is a pandemic going on. I recall reading somewhere that this was actually written before Covid hit. Go figure... I did enjoy how this story developed. I thought it was well written and paced very well. I can't say that I LOVED then ending, but if I tried to think of an alternate ending, I wasn't sure how I could see a different ending. This was a very entertaining read and I already have my next book by this author lined up. Four out of five stars for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and William Morrow publishing for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

While this book was ultimately not for me (very unfortunately!), I can definitely see the glimmers of promise here (the infected were so creepy!). The opening chapter/section with the greyed out pages is so unsettling and really had me hooked. Natalie was instantly relatable to me with her reactions to the pandemic happening around her. And I enjoyed her friendship with Ramola. The travel scenes are what did me in ultimately - it took too long to get to locations and my interest waned with the constant naming of streets and landmarks.