M.R. Carey, The Boy on the Bridge review

Reviewed by Paula Limbaugh

A HUMAN BEING…

…IS A VERY HARD THING TO BE

I have to be honest here when I first began to read The Boy on the Bridge by M.R. Carey I was feeling disappointed. I had read his previous story The Girl With All the Gifts and was hooked at the get-go. This one was coming across flat. But, there was something there that made me curious enough to continue on and boy, am I glad I did. All of a sudden, the hook was in and I couldn’t put it down.

Set in a time period several years after the apocalypse, “hungries” now have the upper-hand. The survivors reside in a compound called Beacon Muster somewhere along the south coast of England. It’s a bleak world where scientists are sent out periodically with an armed escort in search of a way of curing the virus that has taken so many lives.

This latest excursion is where the story begins…

Traveling in a tank-like RV dubbed Rosie the crew of 12 have been on the road for a while now. Unbeknownst to the others, Dr. Samrina Khan has just found out she is pregnant.  Khan, being one of the scientists, has the responsibility of keeping an eye on Stephen Greaves, a young man she has taken under her wing since finding him as a traumatized child. An odd one he comes across as an autistic savant, yet he was the one who came up with a way to block human scent from the hungries, and so he is allowed to travel as one of the scientists.

Stephen has a habit of sneaking out and exploring his surroundings whenever the crew makes camp, it is on one of these forays that he discovers a new breed of hungries. His reluctance of sharing his findings brings on disastrous results.

The crew finds themselves being hunted relentlessly and try to make their way home, but there is subterfuge lurking amongst their midst thwarting the way to safety. After sustaining a major attack Khan gives birth to a baby boy. But the joy of a new life is short-lived when they find they have been lead into a trap by one of their own.  It is here that Khan with the help of Stephen makes a life-changing decision as an ultimate sacrifice to save the lives of her crew and child.

I’m not sure if I am doing justice to this story with this review, but I really don’t want to give anything away. There are so many little twists and unexpected turns that really make this story unique. If like me you think whoa, this is a slow-moving story, don’t stop reading! It’s only a matter of a couple more pages and Boom, the story unfolds brilliantly!! You can pick up your copy HERE!

5/5