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Survivor Song: A Novel
Survivor Song: A Novel
Survivor Song: A Novel
Audiobook8 hours

Survivor Song: A Novel

Written by Paul Tremblay

Narrated by Erin Bennett

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

A propulsive and chillingly prescient novel of suspense and terror from the Bram Stoker award–winning author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts.

“Absolutely riveting.” — Stephen King

In a matter of weeks, Massachusetts has been overrun by an insidious rabies-like virus that is spread by saliva. But unlike rabies, the disease has a terrifyingly short incubation period of an hour or less. Those infected quickly lose their minds and are driven to bite and infect as many others as they can before they inevitably succumb. Hospitals are inundated with the sick and dying, and hysteria has taken hold. To try to limit its spread, the commonwealth is under quarantine and curfew. But society is breaking down and the government's emergency protocols are faltering.

Dr. Ramola ""Rams"" Sherman, a soft-spoken pediatrician in her mid-thirties, receives a frantic phone call from Natalie, a friend who is eight months pregnant. Natalie's husband has been killed—viciously attacked by an infected neighbor—and in a failed attempt to save him, Natalie, too, was bitten. 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.

Natalie’s fight for life becomes a desperate odyssey as she and Rams make their way through a hostile landscape filled with dangers beyond their worst nightmares—terrifying, strange, and sometimes deadly challenges that push them to the brink. 

Paul Tremblay once again demonstrates his mastery in this chilling and all-too-plausible novel that will leave readers racing through the pages . . . and shake them to their core.


Editor's Note

A timely pandemic horror tale…

Paul Tremblay scared the living daylights out of everyone with his bestseller “The Cabin at the End of the World,” and now he’s back with a timely pandemic horror tale. In “Survivor Song,” a rabies-like disease with a frighteningly quick incubation period causes victims to lose their minds in only one hour, turning them into predators looking to infect as many people as possible. The novel follows one of those victims, a woman who is eight months pregnant, as she races to get to the hospital for a vaccine before it’s too late.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateJul 7, 2020
ISBN9780063015890
Author

Paul Tremblay

Paul Tremblay has won the Bram Stoker, British Fantasy, and Massachusetts Book awards and is the nationally bestselling author of The Beast You Are, The Pallbearers Club, Survivor Song, Growing Things and Other Stories, Disappearance at Devil’s Rock, A Head Full of Ghosts, and the crime novels The Little Sleep and No Sleep Till Wonderland. His novel The Cabin at the End of the World was adapted into the Universal Pictures film Knock at the Cabin. He lives outside Boston with his family.

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Reviews for Survivor Song

Rating: 3.788413107052896 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I really struggled to finish this book. It started strong, but eventually became almost interminable as it slogged along to its inevitable conclusion. Particularly annoying was the character Natalie’s almost endless conversations with her unborn baby. Wouldn’t recommend.

    2 people found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Was I the only who cried at Josh’s and Luis interlude? I bawled so hard in the end. Such a beautiful story with an insufferable main character. Although Rams ruled

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Natalie could’ve done a LOT MORE to save her husband. Also I wish the author went more into detail on their relationship prior to the death of her husband.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I expected so much after Trembleys’last book. This is only ok.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Kept me on edge. Would make an amazing movie thriller.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Humdrum bumbles of a “scary” story. I’m left wondering if the intent is the occasional jabs at “right-wing” nuts that suspect some larger “conspiracy”. All from an author that gives the characters bland and cliched backstories in an apocalyptic world where cell phones still work, lights still turn on and people actually wait in line for their handouts. Terrible.

    And really: it IS a zombie story. One that begins by being attacked by a blood-crazed infected because you’re both standing there hugging by your wide open front door when there’s a “shelter in place and hide from the crazed” mandate in place.

    Darwin Award winners all the way.

    Imho, of course.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Kinda uneventful. Had a hard time caring about the main characters. Great job setting the tone and environment alot of opportunities to make the story more grand, but ended up going a narrow route leading to an expected ending.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Review: Survivor Song
    As excited as I was for this new book, I unfortunately struggled to finish reading this seemingly uninspired, unoriginal work by Paul Tremblay.

    I will probably be one of the few people who will leave a negative review about this book but it is the way I feel and it’s one I wasn’t expecting.

    There’s great unrealized potential in this book because of the circumstances that we’re in currently. With a global pandemic at present that has killed thousands and thousands worldwide, a novel of this theme would have been an opportunity to easily put horror in a reader while at the same time, increasing the sense of responsibility and affection for their loved ones. But yet, it has failed.

    THIS IS A RABIES VIRUS. NOT A ZOMBIE VIRUS. A reminder that will keep popping up in this book to insinuate that this is not about Zombies, but one of a virus that turns an infected individual into a raging animal that wants to bite into another human flesh. So, YES. IT IS NOT A ZOMBIE STORY. NOT ABOUT ZOMBIES. AT ALL.

    Another thing you will keep seeing in the book; Ramola repeating over and over that this is not a movie. Of course, it’s not. It’s a book. *rolls eyes*

    The character Ramola Sherman feels like a stand-in, and has more issues than Vogue with her Mother that were irrelevant to the story. I kept waiting for a confrontation or a revelation about her parents that will somehow affect her character development in the story, but none of that happens.

    In saying that, I kept waiting for her character to finally take charge of their situation. I don’t mean to belittle what she has done throughout the length of the book, but it felt like she was playing a role, only stepping in every now and then, and not being herself the entire time. Maybe that was the point of her character, that she was not meant to find the full realization of who she really is, which is even more unfortunate.

    Natalie, on the other hand was frantic, demanding and inconsiderate. She did things how she wanted to, without regard for other people, including her Husband. I was not convinced that she tried hard enough to save him or that they were in a good place in their relationship prior to when things started going to shit [in the story].
    I also, did not sense that she had any real emotions for anyone else, except for maybe her child, but only towards the end and only because it was her narcissistic desperation and resolve that her child will be what remains of her.

    Also, Is it just me or did it feel like they were not really that close? That the relationship between Ramola and Natalie wasn’t that good? That it was a one-sided relationship, one where Ramola thought they were bestfriends and Natalie had a roommate. I don’t know. Maybe Paul Tremblay doesn’t really know how female friendships go?

    And that ending? — I’m really disappointed with this one.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Couldn’t get trough much with all the swearing. Occasionally ok but ... common! It did sound interesting though

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Disappointing. Also, the author goes to great lengths to remind readers that this is a rabies virus epidemic and not a zombie book to the point that it’s insulting. Also, dangling water in front of someone who has rabies is not how you test for hydrophobia.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The first 6 chapters were AMAZING!!
    Then it turned into a YA novel.

    The doctor was so naive and patient, it didn't ring true. So much so it became annoying. The last 2 chapters saved it, but wouldn't not re-read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Most realistic form of zombies Well, they aren’t zombies. Very interesting and sad in the end.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Dang, what a ride! There is so much to love about this book - the chatacters, their awesome friendships, the fast-paced turn of events, the rawness of it. Its all soooo good! Really, quite a treat, and a timely one at that.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    As always, Tremblay's writing keeps you turning pages breathlessly. In this novel, a variant of rabies has broken out and is killing both people and animals. Those suffering become aggressive and try to bite whatever is available. Nat, 8 months pregnant, is attacked in her home and her husband is killed. She goes to her best friend, Ramola, who is a doctor. The to begin a race against time to save Natalie's baby even though both women know that there bis no hope for Natalie.What Tremblay does, better than any author I know, is create terrifying events that could actually happen.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Racing for Life

    Paul Tremblay plunks us down in the middle of a raging epidemic of rabid humans and other mammals in Survivor Song. A new, fast-acting strain of rabies is ravaging the land and, like now, our government and services are handling it in the most chaotic way possible. People crowd hospitals, right-wing conspiracy militias stalk about—generally, it all sounds too familiar, and Tremblay sent this to press before our real pandemic and anemic response became daily breaking news. Remember those words of mis-leadership, the pandemic is "an unforeseen problem" that "came out of nowhere.” Well, evidently, lots and lots of people, including Tremblay and other novelists, saw it coming.

    As for the novel, yes, if you crave a race against time, life and death in the balance, harrowing encounters with panicked masses, crazed diseased animals, lunatic fringe gunmen, and the like, you will love Survivor Song. From start to finish, the action really never lets up. Sure, much is predictable and maybe some of the ancillary characters can be a bit thin, but for action and addictive page turning, you’ll find beating this one hard to do.

    This novel does have a heart, though, and that pulse is friendship, the strength of it in the face of great adversity, and the power it can exert to alter a life.

    Natalie and Ramola have been friends since their days as undergraduates at Brown University. Natalie, often crass and iconoclastic, went on to marry and at the opening of the novel is a fortnight from delivering her and husband Paul’s first child. Ramola, made of staid and steady stuff, transplanted from Newcastle, England, became a pediatrician, and is quite content with her life, which she has mapped out for herself, sans husband and family.

    Both their lives get a shattering jolt when Natalie and Paul become victims of a maddened infected man. Paul fights with courage but succumbs. Though bitten, Natalie survives the attack, notifies Ramola, who comes to her rescue. They race to the community hospital, where Natalie receives initial treatment and is scheduled to deliver via caesarian to ensure the disease doesn’t infect her unborn child. Then all hell breaks loose in the hospital and they have to flee with other pregnant women to another hospital designated for non-infected pregnant women.

    Of course, Natalie is infected and though treated begins suffering from the onset of the fast-acting rabies. In order to fulfill promises she has made to Natalie, Ramola has to do things that go against her character and her professional standards. As Natalie fades, the novel focuses on Ramola’s transformation, all in service to her friend and the unborn child she carries.

    While you’ll probably figure out the outcome fairly early on, that doesn’t detract in the least from traveling through a world in chaos and the devotion of friends for each other, so powerful it can change the course of lives. A perfect reading complement to our own summer of terror.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I’m 99.9% sure that there are some readers out there that will devour this book. I hate to call it a “bad book”...but I have read so much better by this author. I actually checked to see that it was written by the same Paul Tremblay that I had read before. I just couldn’t feel any connection towards the characters or even for the story itself. People running around biting people was just a bit too much on the ridiculous side. Not that there probably aren’t some out there that would take great delight in participating in that activity, and there are some that I might also like to get in a nip or two:). October doesn't seem to be my month. This is the third book that I just couldn’t make any connection with. Good luck to whomever wishes to tackle this.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    If looking for your average apocalyptic disaster infection outbreak story, this isn’t it. Instead, I stumbled into what the first-rate stories of this genre do best — focus on the survivors, this being the tale of two women connected by the shakable bonds of genuine friendship. While I wouldn’t call this book scary, it’s more effecting than that, containing true horror of a possible reality, not your average fairy-tale monster, reflecting light on the madness of humanity and the horror we watch and read in the safety of our darkened living rooms versus true adversity. Well-paced with ingenious ‘breaks’ in the narrative (gaps on the pages) that work on the emotions. The story of ‘Nats and Rams’ is unforgettable. Painfully, tearfully, sorrowful.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A twist on the classic zombie story, Survivor Song hits close to home, considering recent world events. A rabies-like virus is overwhelming New England, and Natalie--who is very pregnant--has watched in shock as an infected man burst into their house, attacked her husband, and bit her. She fled to her friend Ramola, a pediatrician, and thus began their odyssey to try to save Natalie's baby. There are all the zombie-movie trappings, but Tremblay never lets the reader forget that these are not zombies but rather sick people. He does get a bit heavy-handed with his messaging; even though I agree with him, I don't like it when the authorial voice intrudes on the story. And by the end of this, I felt wrung out and depressed. But the end is worth it. Not as good as some of his earlier books, but Tremblay is still breathing new life into the horror genre, and I appreciate that.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Eeeee! I just have to say that I LOVED this book so so much! I read about this book in the newest issue of BookPage magazine and immediately placed at hold at my library. As you can see by the description, many parts of this novel were so eerily similar to current situations that I had to step back for a moment, then ask myself: “Is Paul Tremblay a psychic?”Like a great movie, this started off with a bang, and kept going from there. I was invested in the characters & the story from the start and often found myself on the edge of my seat as I turned each page, wondering and dreading what was going to happen next. It was extremely hard for me to stop reading this book. I’ve read many dystopian novels, and this one has earned its place at the top of my list.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    43. Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay. A virus has spread and people are buying any food and necessities they can. It's here, on the edge of society's collapse, that Natalie and her husband have an infected man enter their home and destroy their lives. Natalie is left to beg her old roommate, Ramola, for help, as she is near her due date and was bitten. Rams is a pediatrician with connections at the local hospital. She knows that getting Natalie vaccinated is a race against time and it may already be too late, but she does everything she can to get Natalie medical care.I do like zombie tales, but this one annoyed me. Natalie is a truly aggravating character, one that I'd drive away from and leave on the roadside. She's foul-mouthed, argumentative and angry even before her husband is killed, and the reader isn't given a good enough explanation for why Ramola is so attached to her. The author also brings in a political slant and gets pretty heavy-handed with it, which really took me out of the story. There's also a lot of very long and confusing descriptions of fights that go into minute detail that I couldn't follow.I'd really liked A Headful of Ghosts but this one was pretty much a miss for me. 2.8 stars
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    SURVIVOR SONG is basically a zombie story, and I think they're clichés. And I don't like novels with few scenes—this one felt like a three-act play. Plus, one of the characters, Natalie, was incredibly unlikable; though, Tremblay did do a good job with the language of her British doctor friend, and his characterization of conspiracy theorists was spot on. Plus, I didn't know if a pregnant woman is dead for more than four minutes, her baby won't make it. Last time I'll read a book due a glowing New York Times book review and Stephen King tweeting positively about the book . . . when will I learn he's a great writer but his taste in books is sometimes suspect.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Tremblay is one of my go-to authors. Reading this book during a pandemic was honestly pretty fantastic. For me anyway. Because that is how I deal when the world (and by world I mean my country) is in a state of WTF that should have never happened and holy hell I'm living in something I thought I'd only ever read about. Reading about it in a horror novel just puts it into a perspective that all the Black Death history books I've read don't. (Black Death: my fave pandemic) Personal rambling aside, what Tremblay does so well is add the personal horror to the big horror. And it was just so relatable here. A mutated common disease. The waiting, the knowing, steps taken that have you both sympathizing with and screaming at Rams and Nats. The conspiracies. This is truly a book for our times.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wow; bleak yet hopeful, peopled by characters who are flawed but decent; it's hard to read this without drawing connections to the current situation - its world is like the COVID-19 pandemic on steroids - but it will certainly outlive this crappy year.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A free copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not influence my thoughts in any way.Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay is a great story. It takes place mostly over one day and it focuses on two friends, Natalie and Ramola. Natalie is 9 months pregnant during an outbreak of a rabies like virus in Massachussets. Ramola, her best friend, is a pediatrician. The story is about their friendship and how they are trying to survive the outbreak. I really liked this book. The characters are well developed. The virus is terrifying. It was a weird read with the current state of our world but I actually felt a little better after. Things can always be worse.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    “This is not a fairy tale. This is a song.”And this, this is a really good book! There is a rabies-like virus overrunning Massachusetts, and two women must fight like hell to survive it! One of them is pregnant. The book details their love, friendship, and intense struggle to save themselves, and the unborn child. The writing is strong and powerful, and most days, I felt I was right there with them, stressed out about strange animals, fevers, and not making it. It was a very good read.Now for my politics:“In the coming days, conditions will continue to deteriorate. Emergency services and other public safety nets will be stretched to their breaking points, exacerbated by the wily antagonists of fear, panic, misinformation; a myopic, sluggish federal bureaucracy further hamstrung by a president unwilling and woefully unequipped to make the rational, science-based decisions necessary; and exacerbated, of course, by plain old individual everyday evil.” “In the final tally of what will be considered the end of the epidemic [but not, to be clear, the end of the virus; it will return all but encouraged and welcomed in a country where science and forethought are allowed to be dirty words, where humanity's greatest invention --- the vaccine --- is smeared and vilified by narcissistic, purposeful fools [the most dangerous kinds, where fear is harvested for fame, profit, and self-esteem], almost ten thousand people will have died." Geez, in OUR pandemic, ongoing, there have been 140,000 dead in the United States... and counting! And, back to my review:A sample of the type of writing in this book:“After shared, restrained laughter, they drive in silence, passing through the new ghost town, where the ghosts are reflections of what was and projections of what might never be again.”The way the climactic scene is physically printed in the book is brilliant! The spacing of the sentences brings so much power and suspense to the words. I ‘felt’ the writing!Sassafras and lullabies...‘Neither now, nor ever.’
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Maybe not the best book for our current situation. It is a horror novel in which a virus like rabies. The country is quarantine and when Natalie is bit on the arm by a rabid man she turns to her friend, a doctor for help. There’s a lot of political commentary about the short sightedness of the federal bureaucracy. It is a story of survival and readers will see things that mirror life today. I’m not a fan of horror novels, so I’m not the best to review this. If you are a fan of books by Tremblay, you will enjoy this book. Zombies are not my favorite genre.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    If anyone can write an apocalyptic epidemiological novel these days without seeming opportunistic or tactless it is Paul Tremblay. The horror and suspense writer will publish Survivor Song in July 2020, right on the heels of his critically acclaimed collection of short stories Growing Things. Tremblay excels at creating a creeping sense of unease and mounting panic, culminating in cinematic scenes of violence and terror. His style is perfect, therefore, for portraying a fictional epidemic that not only decimates people’s bodies, but perverts their minds as well. He begins this work with the warning: “This is not a fairy tale,” and with this caveat the reader knows that all will not end prettily in the pages to follow. The book opens as a very-pregnant Natalie awaits the return of her husband who is breaking curfew to get them supplies. U.S. citizens have been warned that they should quarantine themselves to curtail a communicable illness that is a new, mutant form of rabies. Those infected are quickly reduced to an animal-like state, insane with a desire to bite and thereby spread the disease. There is no cure and increasing panic has erupted due to an incompetent government response. Paul makes it back home in time, but the couple is immediately besieged by an infected man who fatally attacks Paul and exposes Natalie to the illness. This is only the beginning of the story, and the remainder of the book is dedicated to Natalie’s desperate quest for treatment with the help of her best friend (and pediatrician), Ramola. Time is of the essence, and the two women are faced with challenges of callous bureaucracy, rampant disorganization, vigilantism and bigotry as they race through the Boston Area seeking help. They also encounter helpers who aid in their quest—whose heroism counters the prevailing sense of pessimism and misanthropy. Survivor Song is a slow-burning thriller containing a thinly veiled political statement and pointed jab at the handling of the current COVID pandemic. Tremblay shows the various behaviors and attitudes people may manifest when faced with life-threatening situations. He certainly does not shy away from depicting the uglier side of human nature in its most feral state. Tremblay’s novel is not completely despairing, however, as he also illuminates the choice of self-sacrifice over self-preservation. This is a book that is timely and germane to the current state of our world, inviting an unflinching examination of ourselves and our own potential responses to the challenges we face.Thanks to the author, William Morrow and Edelweiss for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Review of Uncorrected E-ProofA virulent, rabies-like virus besets the populace of Massachusetts, compelling the infected to bite others before they succumb. The contagion acts rapidly and, spread by saliva, creates a dangerous populace. Panic runs rampant in hospitals flooded with the infected. In an attempt to limit the spread of the disease, curfews and quarantines are in place. But as procedures fail, it becomes increasingly difficult for Doctor Ramola Sherman to find help for her eight-months-pregnant friend Natalie who watched her husband, Paul, die and who herself is infected with the virus. It’s a certain death sentence for Nats even though she’s received the first dose of the vaccine. On their way to a hospital, the two women meet Josh and Luis, a couple of bicycling teens who try to help them. But there’s danger everywhere. Will “Rams” find a way to help her friend and save the child she carries? In a harrowing story that, except for the Postlude, takes place over the course of a single day, the tension is often palpable and the unfolding events, despite being predictable, are truly horrific. Believable characters, a strong sense of place, and a powerful premise all add to the reader’s sense of dread. Heartbreaking events ramp up the anxiety while moments of humor offer a respite from the underlying sense of foreboding that permeates the telling of the tale.Take-aways from the story? The bonds of true friendship, the nature of courage, the things done for love. But the unnecessary over-use of an offensive obscenity pulls the reader out of the story . . . every . . . single . . . time . . . and lowers the rating for this book.I received a free copy of this eBook from HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley#SurvivorSong #NetGalley