- 1995
by Simon Clark
USA Release: Jan. 1, 1995
Hodder & Stoughton
UK
ISBN 0-340-62574-0 HC
ISBN 0-340-62575-9 PB
I'm not a fan of end-of-the-world fiction, but I am a fan of Simon Clark.
After JUDAS TREE, however, I was reluctant to read anything else by him. JUDAS TREE was an incredible story and I was afraid Clark's other books would not live up to it. So
it was with trepidation that I picked up BLOOD CRAZY.
And found I couldn't put it down.
I carried that book around with me for three days. I breathed, ate, slept
and went to the bathroom with it. The only place I couldn't get away with
reading it was in the car and at work. Instead it sat, invading my thoughts.
I found myself thinking about events in the story that had happened and wondering what would happen next.
So, I'll tell you a bit about the book. Nick Aten is nobody's definition of
a hero, but he's not a completely bad guy. One day he wakes up to a world
gone mad. Parents murder their children for no apparent reason, and somehow
Nick stays alive. His adventure begins.
This is a story about survival and the effects it has on those who persevere
through the puzzling events that take place. There are some incredible
action sequences and the gore that accompanies them is perfect - it was
enough to make me squeamish but never so much that I had to look away.
But the thing that really grabbed me were the characters; they were all
incredibly real. We were shown changes in their attitudes after civilization
fell, but unlike most novels of this sort, we were shown how they might
go back to their normal selves, as much as possible, once the shock wore off.
This, for me, made it real.
To tell anymore about the book would give away the pleasure of experiencing
it for the first time. I went into this book blind, without even reading
the back cover, and I'm glad I did. It's always a treat to get sucked into a book unexpectedly.
Do I sound like I'm gushing? That's because I am. When I finished this book
I literally put it down and said, "Wow." My husband asked me how it was
and I couldn't answer him. That was the most surprising thing - I thought
about this book for days afterward, contemplating what events had happened
and imagining what might have happened afterward.