I'm not a huge fan of apocalyptic horror, but this one was a very good read and I found myself enjoying it more than I thought I would. While these days it may not be the most sensitive read (the pandemic and all) it is one that will get your blood running! If you're a fan of the author you won't want to miss this one!

A rabies-like infection is spreading and rapidly (within hours) killing people. 
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“Post-college, Natalie and Ramola roomed together in Providence for two years, during which time Natalie tended bar and seemingly read (consumed would be a more accurate verb, here) every YA novel featuring one apocalypse or another. On nights that Ramola visited Natalie at work, the two of them would playfully engage in animated and, judging by the attention of the surrounding bar patrons, entertaining debate about the end of everything.” 
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Now that apocalypse may really be happening. Natalie has been bitten by an infected man so she turns to her good friend Dr Ramola Sherman. 

I’ve not read any other Paul Tremblay books but this one takes off like a shot. I am reminded of Justin Cronin’s **The Passage** trilogy but unlike that saga there are no vampires here. What there are is lots of people and animals infected with this super-rabies virus. They are either already under the influence of the infection or scared that they might be. Meanwhile Ramola must get Natalie to a place where her baby can be delivered and properly cared for. 

The story focuses on the race to save Natalie and her unborn child.  I didn’t find this to be a heart-pounding, don’t-turn-the-lights-out sort of book but I was very interested to see how it was all going to work out. The only thing that would have made for a better reading experience would be if I had really connected with one of these main characters; alas I did not. 

Thanks to @harpercollinsus for this #advancereaderscopy.

What a timely read in the time of shelter-in-place. I'm not sure I would have picked it up had I known this story takes place during a pandemic crisis, but I'm so glad I did. This is a fast read that grabs you from the beginning. It has strong characters and a straightforward plot that keeps moving - I read this book easily and totally invested in the outcome.  Paul Tremblay is a master of suspense, someone who can make you feel a little appreciative that things aren't so bad in reality as the alternate world he's created. I'm a fan of his work, and this one did not disappoint. Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

A virus, which is linked to animals, is spreading.  Everyone is to stay indoors with curfews in place.  Natalie, in her last term of pregnancy and her husband Paul are both working from home when an infected man breaks in.  He attacks and kills Paul and injuries Natalie.  She escapes and flees to her friend and doctor Ramola Sherman.  Natalie is now infected and has only a few hours to get to a hospital to give birth.  When there, the hospital becomes overrun with more infected people and Nat and Ram escape to go to another hospital.  Along the way they encounter many difficulties and dire situations.
A fast paced and intense story, showing the resilience and often kindness of strangers and true friendship in difficult times.
Thank you Harper Collins and NetGalley for this e-galley of "Survivor Song".

I received and ARC from NET GALLEY

Classic Paul Tremblay, if I can say that after only reading "Cabin at the End of the World".  I hate ZOMBIE books, but in the hands of Mr. Paul I couldn't escape this zombie-apocalypse.

I HATE the "new" Stephen King comments you see so much because they are ALL WRONG; but if I wanted to write that line it would be on both his books; ENJOY!!

Paul Tremblay has done it again. The Bram Stoker award-winning author of The Cabin at the End of the World has written another suspenseful novel about survival . Instead of a crazy home invasion story, Survivor Song focuses on the spread of an insidious rabies-like virus overtaking New England. This virus has a short incubation time before the victim succumbs to feral and violent tendencies. The story centers on a woman named  Natalie, who is eight months pregnant. When her husband is killed—viciously attacked by an infected neighbor—and in a failed attempt to save him, Natalie, too, is bitten, she calls the only person she knows who might be able to help her: Dr. Ramola "Rams" Sherman, a soft-spoken pediatrician in her mid-thirties, and one of her closest friends. Natalie's only chance of survival is to get to a hospital as quickly as possible to receive a rabies vaccine. The clock is ticking for her and for her unborn child. Can Dr. Ramola and Natalie make it in time? Will Natalie's child survive? You'll have to read to find out. Survivor Song is a harrowing journey through a ravaged New England landscape that resolves itself with one of the most memorable and disturbing endings I've read in a long time. And while this story is terrifying and suspenseful, Survivor Song is ultimately about the persistence of the human spirit, the bonds of friendship, and the love of mother for her unborn child. Tremblay seems to have a knack for writing about familial bonds. Natalie is a wonderful character and is easy to empathize with. She's snarky and attempts to insert humor in a terrible situation. Throughout the story she records video entries to her unborn child, and these are easily some of the most touching passages within the book. 

Reading this in the midst of the Covid-19 Pandemic was quite the experience. Tremblay has done his homework. He effectively paints a picture of a broken health care system (lacking PPE for dealing with a virus), the fear and misinformation that spreads when a virus is attacking, and the crazy Militias that attempt to take things in their control (all things we've seen happen throughout the past few months). Survivor Song is well-researched which makes the story all the more real and frightening. 

Highly recommended. For fans of M.R. Carey or Stephen King. Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for the electronic copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was an amazing book.  I love Paul Tremblay, and he is now my list of books that I recommend at the library and to friends.  This book is especially resonant with a virus sweeping MA.

With everything that’s going on in the world, I’ve been in a terrible reading rut.  I haven’t been able to calm my mind and focus long enough to get through a book in a while.  As much as I enjoy Paul Tremblay’s work, I certainly didn’t expect a novel about a highly contagious, highly deadly disease to snap me out of that funk.  However, maybe it did.  Maybe this is a case of calling Voldemort by his name; it can take some of the fear and anxiety away.
The interesting thing about this book particularly and some of Mr. Tremblay’s other works is that he can take a very big concept, in this case a potential viral apocalypse, and make it very small and intimate.  While I’m not comparing this book to The Stand or the more recent Wanderers by Chuck Wendig, it does feel like it belongs in the same family tree.  Those books, however were intended to be epics, with trans-continental crossings and hundreds of characters.  Survivor Song deals primarily with 2 characters trying to get across town (and not a particularly big town.) Not only is the geological scope very narrow the time frame is very narrow as well.  It may take a reader 6-10 hours to read this novel and aside from the Epilogue, the events seem to take place almost in real time.  Late-morning A,B, and C happen; in the afternoon D,E, and F happen; in the evening/night things start to wrap up.  I found this to be a surprisingly refreshing approach to an end of the world novel.
The horror is in no way supernatural, as we are all learning, reality is scary enough.  Those tense moments come from animal encounters and dealings with other humans, both infected and not.  The encounters with the non-infected humans were the scariest of all.  There are some political undertones about an administration that was ill prepared to deal with this viral outbreak. As well as a not-so-subtle middle finger to the Anti-Vaxxers and false-flag conspiracy theorists.  Good thing that’s all fiction…right?
I am a fan of Mr. Tremblay and Survivor Song, in my opinion, was another enjoyable read from him.  As far as my reading funk goes, perhaps this was the book I needed.

Paul Tremblay has done it again! This book was wonderful and engrossing. I was scared for the main characters and came so close to crying in the end. The most impressive part of this book to me was the scariest part wasn't the virus but the people. Highly recommend!

I enjoyed Head Full of Ghosts much more, and will be suggesting it to patrons more than Survivor Song. The use of first and second person threw the pacing off. Although the story’s action continued to accelerate and ramped up the tension effectively, I found it hard to connect with the characters.

Finished reading Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay. It’s a chilling tale of panic when an emerging virus presents itself to the world. There are some parallels to  the present, but Mr. Tremblay creates his own spin on the ability of the government and medical establishment to stop the spread of the deadly virus.  My only quibble with the story, was the alternating chapters between the main protagonists. It felt disjointed at time. Overall though, a frightening tale of what if.

This may be the best Tremblay book yet. Gripping, fast-paced, horrifying, heartfelt, and scary, all in one book. The story of the spread of a super-rabies, hospitals overrun by sick or feared-sick, vigilantes, attempts to vaccinate wild animals, this book was just all about fear. What happens when we are afraid, what kind of person will you become? The main story of Natalie and Ramola was really compelling and interesting, and it just didn't end like I expected. Tremblay always takes a moment to philosophize and explain the "nature of humanity," which he still managed to do, but in this book it didn't feel as intrusive. Though I may not always love his books, I look forward to reading each one as it emerges, crawling from his crazy crazy head.

I've read a couple books by Paul Tremblay and, while Cabin at the End of the World is still my favorite, Survivor Song is right up there behind it. If our everyday reality weren't already pandemic-weird, Tremblay turns it up a notch. A doctor's pregnant college friend is bitten by an infected neighbor and the race is on to save her friend and the unborn child. Great twists that kept me engrossed right up the the last sentence.

This is a classic horror movie of a novel, an actual yell at the characters book (seriously, everyone get back to me when they get to the part that had me shouting "Get down the stairs!" at the phone on which I was reading this and let's commiserate) that's full of tension, gore, wise-cracking teens, and shitty militia dipshits. Now that we're all a lot more familiar with epidemics and quarantines and resources being stretched to their absolute limit than we ever wanted to be, the only thing I think Tremblay really got wrong is that "The National Guard is overseeing the distribution of rations." This was messed up enough that I had to stop reading it after the sun went down and that's good praise from me.

I read this book seven weeks into the pandemic and I am someone who has leaned into consuming fiction and films about pandemics/disasters/apocalyptic scenarios. I found this to be a thrilling read- frightening at times and uncomfortably relatable. It's basically a zombie apocalypses except the zombies are not the undead- they are infected with rabies. I recommend this book if you are interested in engaging with the disaster scenario central to the book.

Survivor Song was frighteningly/coincidentally well-timed for the current pandemic going on. The book illustrates well, the start of and spread of an infections rabies-like disease that has a very short incubation period (hours instead of days to weeks). 

Set from the perspective of a doctor, Ramola (or Rams), and her very pregnant friend Natalie. Dr. Ramola is racing to attempt to save her friend’s life, who was attacked by a sick man, who broke into her home and killed her husband in a disease-infected rage. The entire book is set over the course of mere hours- desperately seeking out help for Natalie and her unborn child while navigating the obstacles of a horrifying, chaotic, community that is unpredictable and dangerous.

While clearly fictional, it created a realistic enough portrayal of events (shockingly similar to current events)-quarantines to limit spread, hospitals that are overrun- that allowed for the mind to wonder “what if” several times throughout the story.  

I appreciate the inner workings of the character’s minds as they contemplate what is going on and how to handle each situation thrown their way. I honestly think my only critique would be the use of so many “4 dollar words.” While I’m an unapologetic word-fiend, there seem to be an excessive amount of them, it was especially distracting when they came from the perspective of characters least likely to even know those words exist. However, the story was not lost- just interrupted by dictionary visits.  

I read this in two sittings and thoroughly enjoyed the thrill of it and mourned the loss of characters I came to appreciate. If you’re looking for a page turner, you’ve come to the right place!

This book holds all the trademarks of a classic Paul Tremblay horror novel and fans of his work will not be disappointed. Compared to his other horror books, this one most closely follows the narrative structure of Cabin at the End of the World with a similar level of action and suspense. Once again Tremblay provides his own literary spin on a classic subgenre of horror. In this one, he takes on the apocalyptic horror, but chooses to tell an intimate character focused story rather than the scaling epic normally found in the subgenre.

Tremblay is easily one of the stronger horror writers writing and I am always so impressed by his prose. His books have a literary feel, although this story felt a bit more genre than his previous work. As usual, his characters were interesting and well developed. One of the main characters identified as asexual, which added a nice piece of underrepresented diversity to the novel.

Reading this during the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020, I was floored by how accurately Tremblay predicted the details of this viral pandemic. From self isolation and quarantines to fights at the grocery stores, the book was certainly unsettling to read in the midst of the current events. This story could certainly be triggering to anyone suffering from anxiety during this crisis. 

Also, I should warn that this novel goes to some  dark places and will almost certainly mess with your emotions. There were certainly a few "gut punch" moments in this one.

I am not the biggest fan of the pandemic post-apocalyptic genre. So if I enjoyed the subgenre more, I likely would have rated this one even higher. I found the setup to be quite engaging, but I found the mandatory tropes of the genre, like travelling to safety, to be a bit tiring to read.

While the synopsis made this sound like a zombie book, it's really not. This became an ongoing joke throughout the novel with one of the characters constantly correcting everyone who inaccurately labelled the infected as zombies. There were no dead bodies rising back to life in this one, but rather a dangerous strain of rabies that caused humans to become delusional and prone to biting.

If you are already a fan of Paul Tremblay then you should absolutely read his latest release. If you are new to his work, then this is a great place to start. I would recommend this one to readers looking for a horror story that combines a gripping emotional narrative with some strong  character work.

Survivor Song is a break-neck paced thriller about a rabies virus outbreak in New England. Pregnant Natalie is attacked and her husband killed by someone who is infected, leaving Natalie to turn to her closest friend, Ramola, who also happens to be a doctor. While worrying about whether or not Natalie is infected, the two women desperately race to get her baby delivered just in case. Along the way they encounter more infected people, infected animals, two teenage zombie hunters and a group of militia vigilantes convinced that foreign governments deliberately caused an outbreak. While completely different than the current pandemic the world is battling, the book paints a stark picture of how quickly people can spiral out of control during deadly circumstances, and how difficult it can be to contain something that spreads easily and quickly. This is a good story, but intense, and may not be for everyone in normal times - let alone in 2020!

Definitely interesting to read when all of this global pandemic stuff is going on. That just made it that much more scary and wow. 

I knew I should have saved it for when things become more calm but I just could not help myself. I am a glutton for the scary and could not stop reading this once I started. It is a zombie like story where people are getting rabies like symptoms in a short amount of time and it is passed through spit. Super scary to be reading about when people are outside wearing masks and a lot of the world is closed. Just made it that much more believable. 

This terrified my pants off and is one book you should not read right now if you are sensitive to what is happening in our world at the moment,. But it did make me see we need to be careful. Wash your hands... stay at home... be safe. And then we wont be zombies and dead. Which to me seems like a great idea. 

A must for zombie fans and those who like end of the world stories.

Gripping read!   An eerily similar book to read during a pandemic.  Once you start reading be prepared to stay up well past your bedtime turning the pages.