Review of The End of October – Lawrence Wright

race-against-time thriller, as one man must find the origin and cure for a new killer virus that has brought the world to its knees.

At an internment camp in Indonesia, forty-seven people are pronounced dead with a mysterious fever. When Dr Henry Parsons – microbiologist and epidemiologist – travels there on behalf of the World Health Organization to investigate, what he finds will soon have staggering repercussions across the globe: an infected man is on his way to join the millions of worshippers in the annual Hajj to Mecca.

As international tensions rise and governments enforce unprecedented measures, Henry finds himself in a race against time to track the source and find a cure – before it’s too late . .

The End of October

Lawrence Wright

Bantam Press

Supplied by Penguin Random House New Zealand

Reviewed by Jan Butterworth

Dr Henry Parsons is an unlikely hero – small, skinny, uses a cane to walk – but incredibly smart and one of the world’s leading microbiologists and epidemiologists.  He is asked by the World Health Organization to travel to Indonesia investigate an outbreak of an illness at a refugee camp.  It is a virus he’s never seen before and the medical community have no idea how to treat it. 

Despite the efforts to contain it, the virus spreads and infects worshippers in the annual Hajj to Mecca.  The Saudi government quickly implement a lockdown of the country to pre vent spread of the virus but are unsuccessful.  The virus quickly spreads worldwide, overwhelming hospitals everywhere.  There are heightened tensions in the Middle East and soon the world is dealing with a pandemic and a war.

The plot has various threads – Henry’s, his wife Jill, a CIA policy maker, an investigative journalist….. – and they are all tightly wound together, with the story moving along quickly.  There is lot going on but as the story progresses things become clearer.  We learn more about Henry’s past and are introduced to a potential bad guy/villain.  I was convinced of the source of the pathogen half way through but wow……  I did not see that end coming!

The book starts off being scarily true to real life events but countries pulled apart and stood alone instead of working together  to  find a cure, which thankfully is not happening in real life.  The American government is very lifelike and the fictional scenario is very true to real life, making me wonder if the author is secretly a time traveller.  I skimmed the science parts but now have a better understanding than I ever wanted to of viruses and pandemics.

This book can be disturbing but it’s a fantastic read.  Pick it up now.

Review of The Good, The Bad, The Little Bit Stupid – Marina Lewycka

George Pantis is in a pickle. After walking out on his wife Rosie on Referendum night 2016 to shack up with hairdresser ‘Brexit Brenda’ next door, he thinks he’s got it made – especially when he wins millions on a Kosovan lottery he only vaguely remembers entering. Unfortunately, he’s forgotten his password and can’t get at his money. Which is a problem because he suddenly has to contend with lots of forceful new friends desperate to know his mother’s maiden name.

As things quickly get out of hand, George must make a mad dash from Sheffield to the Adriatic – and into the arms of organized crime gangs who specialize in illegal kidney transplants and heroin smuggling. George is in need of rescue – both from this pickle and from himself. But will his son Sensible Sid, Brenda and Rosie put aside their differences long enough to help? And might the journey bring this dysfunctional family back together?

The Good the Bad and the Little Bit Stupid

Marina Lewycka

Fig Tree

Supplied by Penguin Random House New Zealand

Reviewed by Steve

George and Rosie Pantis, a Sheffield couple, have a row on Brexit night 2016. Rosie locks him out in the rain, and their neighbour, “Brexit Brenda”, takes him in. At which point, the Pantis’ marriage sort of collapses. Both Rosie and George cannot take the first step to rebuilding it, and when George is informed he has won millions of lek in a Kosovan lottery, their son “sensible” Sid is drafted to talk sense to at least one of them.

This is Lewycka’s sixth book, and is the first set in her current home town of Sheffield. The characters are believable: George and Brenda are an aging couple from different backgrounds. George is English-Greek and a former university lecturer, and Rosie was once a student of his. Brenda owns a hair dressing salon and seems more style than substance. Sid and Cassie, the kids, are recognisable characters. Even the Albanian gangsters interested in George’s bank account (or his organs) have more than one dimension.

Lewycka’s characters seem a little stereotypical, but they aren’t. They have escaped central casting, and have that dazed manner of cosseted inmates coping with reality. The Good the Bad, and the Little Bit Stupid is not a long book, and with numerous short chapters with differing PoV characters, is a quick read. I enjoyed it, as it was moderately humorous and certainly diverting. I thank Penguin Random House for the review copy.