Monday, June 2, 2008

Blood Crazy


Blood Crazy was written by Simon Clark and originally published in 2001. It follows the adventures of Nick Aten (is it a coincidence he has the name of one of the Egyptian gods?), a self described slacker in England, after an apocalyptic event. One morning, all the adults go insane and begin to kill everyone under 19. Nick escapes the massacre, and soon joins with the other few survivors. The event is world-wide, and the young people unaffected must attempt to rebuild some semblance of society while protecting themselves from the adults, still mindless, but acting somehow in concert. The biggest parallel to the book is Lord of the Flies, with a generous helping of George Romero, and some of The Stand by Stephen King. There is also a great deal of discourse on Jungian theory, and an interesting though unlikely approach to evolution. Clark does a good job of making you feel the suspense as his characters struggle for survival.

Overall, not a bad book. Clark has gotten better in his more recent work, but there are flashes of true skill here.

No comments: