Book Review: Feral (James DeMonaco) @VintageAnchor

Allie was still in high school when a fire at a research facility releases an airborne infection that spreads to every male on the planet; although killing most, the surviving men become consumed by symptoms like uncontrollable violence, strength and ferociousness. They are feral.   As the world crumbles around them, the unaffected survivors (all women) ban together. As Allie scavenges for supplies for the group, she begins to notice strange patterns with the ferals. Something is brewing. And time is running out….

 Feral, a post-apocalyptic style horror thriller, by James DeMonaco was a thoroughly entertaining read.   I read it easily in a few sittings; it’s subject matter and fast paced writing style made it easy to devour. A virus that only affects men? A world run by women? I was all over this book.

This author is the same writer (and director) of The Purge films; I am a huge fan of those films because of their realism. I found this to be true in Feral as well, although a post-apocalyptic style novel, it never felt far-fetched or completely unrealistic. There was always that constant “hmm, what if…” running through the back of my mind.

The novel is told through multiple (and sometimes random) first person perspectives. Most often, Allie narrates the plot and I thoroughly enjoyed her commentary. She is strong, smart and hardened.   I’d take Allie on my team any day in an apocalypse situation. We also get perspectives from a doctor (who, ironically, was partially responsible for the initial outbreak) as she hunts down a serum to cure the ferals before the human species is lost forever. Her perspectives were also interesting. However, I had some issues with chapters randomly narrated by secondary characters and, occasionally, a chapter would switch to third person. When these switches happened, I had to slow down my reading so I could figure out who was speaking.

I feel like fans of The Walking Dead series will enjoy the style of this one; it was also a little reminiscent for me of I Am Legend. It would not surprise me to see this one on the big screen.   Overall, for entertainment value alone, I gave this one 4/5 stars on Goodreads.

Be sure to look out for this one, on sale April 4th, 2017!

Thanks to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for a digital copy of this novel; it was my pleasure to provide an honest review.