Set in present day, it follows Jon Keller, an American Historian, and his fellow guests at a hotel in Switzerland, following a nuclear war. Pretty much every major city in the world has been bombed. The majority of guests have left, trying to get back to their homes even thought the media has advised them against doing so (no aeroplanes, no public transport). Jon and a small group of other guests decide to stay and make the best of it.
Whilst checking water supplies in the roof storage tanks, they find the body of a child, and Jon decides to investigate.
The book is written in Jon's voice as he writes a diary, a history, of his and the other guests survival, and his investigation.
I really liked this. It wasn't sensationalised, it all seemed so reasonable, and in our current worldwide political climate, so plausible - which is what made it really scary. It did have a bit of the "Huis Clos" (a play by Jean Paul Sartre) feeling about it: a feeling of being trapped with the same day coming around again and again, no escape, stuck with the same people that you neither particularly like or trust. And I liked that about it.
By the way, in the advent of a nuclear holocaust, Switzerland would seem to be a pretty civilised place to be 'stuck'.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Viking for the copy of this book to read and review!
The Likeness (Dublin Murder Squad, #2)
8.3
Rate It
Book
The haunting follow up to the Edgar Award-winning debut In the Woods Tana French astonished...
Time's Convert
8.0
Rate It
Book
From the Sunday Times Number One bestselling author of A Discovery of Witches, soon to be a major...
How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse: Book 4
9.3
Rate It
Book
Read the books that inspired the How to Train Your Dragon films! This book will be a hit with...
Michael Foreman: An Illustrated Life
Book
"One of my earliest memories is lying on the floor in front of the kitchen fire, drawing..." Michael...
The Flame Bearer (the Last Kingdom Series, Book 10)
6.0
Rate It
Book
The brand new novel in Bernard Cornwell's number one bestselling series on the making of England and...
ClareR (5721 KP) rated The Wolf in the Whale in Books
Aug 18, 2019
Omat lives in 1000AD, a young Inuit Shaman, and neither male nor female (actually, she took on her fathers soul at birth and is raised as a boy - a hunter and a shaman). There is loads of detail about how life was lived by the Inuit at the beginning of the last century(and I loved this detail), and I learnt so much about their spiritual lives, their Gods and the expectations of men and women. When Omat menstruates for the first time, it heralds the end of her life as a man and a shaman. She is married off to another Inuit who is passing through and promises to help her tribe. The thing is, he has two other wives, and he’s just not a nice person. When a group of Vikings wipe out the group of Inuit that she has married in to, Omat survives and realises that they have captured her cousin. She vows to find and free him. On her journey, she rescues three wolfdogs and saves the life of a Viking who reluctantly joins her on her quest.
I was so immersed in this wonderful story. I loved the style it was written in, I loved Omat’s voice. The magic and beliefs were fascinating, and my heart was in my mouth during the hunting scenes (men catching and killing huge Caribou and whales using flint weapons!). And the ending was just right.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this wonderful book to read and review honestly.
Powerful Destiny
6.0
Rate It
Book
It is 850AD and Norse warrior Rolf lands on the shores of East Anglia determined to take revenge on...
Historical Contemporary Romance Time_Travel
Pop Goes the Weasel: The Secret Meanings of Nursery Rhymes
Book
In Pop Goes the Weasel, Albert Jack explores the strange and fascinating histories behind the...
The RAF Air Sea Rescue Service 1918-1986
Jon Sutherland and Diane Canwell
Book
Between 1918 and 1986 the marine branch of the Royal Air Force provided rescue facilities, support...