Deon Meyer, the author of this stunning novel, is South African. He sets the story in South Africa. In fact, it is translated from the original Afrikaans. And it is a great read. I could hardly put the book down, once I got it out of the library.

The basic premise (and I will not give away the ending!!!) is that a disease has hit Earth, killing most of the people. Some find themselves immune, and slowly begin to put their lives back together. As they do, civilization begins to reassert itself. And all of the problems of society begin to emerge.

The story includes some incredible, hair-raising episodes of survival. It includes discussions of how to form this new society and disagreements of how to structure it. In various areas there are different attempts at doing this. And of course, as in all societies, there are dysfunctional people who want nothing more than to destroy what successful groups accomplish.

The story mostly follows the life of a boy, Nico Storm, who was about 13 years old when he and his father find themselves survivals of the original onslaught of the fever. The book follows Nico until his late teens or early twenties. There are many adventures, many threads to his story. It’s complexity includes the coming-of-age of Nico, his relationship with his father, religious conservatives, open-minded people, all of the dimensions of human society.

And it is a page-turner! I recommend this book to anyone desiring a really, really good read!