Red River Seven - A. J. Ryan

Speculative Horror

Rating: 8/10

As I dove into this story, it felt somehow familiar. I knew it wasn’t another book as the premise is unlike anything I have come across on the page before, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Then it came to me, it was similar in theme and tone to the series The Last Of Us.

This novel starts with one of our characters waking to a blood-soaked room. As he struggles to shake off the sluggishness, he realizes he’s on a boat with a dead man.

In short order, he begins to grasp that he cannot remember who he is or what he is doing there. And neither can the others that are with him.

As they start talking, it’s evident they each seem to have a certain area of expertise, a soldier, an investigator, a historian, a doctor, a scientist, and an explorer. The question is how they all got here, and why. None expect to find themselves contending with a plague that turns you into your worst nightmare.

When a phone rings with certain instructions, they realize they are on a mission of some kind. One that they volunteered for. One that requires that they eradicate an infestation of some sort. One that will likely cost them their lives.

Turns out a pathogen has been unleashed on the world, one that is connected to brain function and memory. Maybe their memories were stolen to protect them. But what happens when they start to form new memories, can they keep the infection at bay?

My thanks to NetGalley, Orbit books and the author for the advanced readers copy.

Book Pairing(s): The Ruins by Scott Smith, Cold Storage by David Koepp, The Passage by Justin Cronin