The Enemy

April 19, 2010
Lord of the Flies
meets 28 Days Later
in this disturbing postapocalyptic adventure. Higson (the Young Bond series) presents a kids-only world with shades of Michael Grant's Gone books, though in this case, a disease has turned everyone over the age of 16 into mindless, flesh-eating nightmares, terrorizing and devouring those unaffected. Packs of resourceful kids have holed up in supermarkets, constructing defenses, foraging for supplies, and fighting off feral “grown-ups.” For the group sheltering in a Waitrose store, it's a ceaseless battle for survival, where even the simplest expedition can prove fatal. When the possibility of a haven arrives, the Waitrose kids band with new allies as they make a hazardous trek across London to the promised land: Buckingham Palace. Alternately bleak and defiant, this splatterfest doesn't pull any punches (“The skin blackened, shriveled and split, the overripe flesh inside squeezing out.... This was what happened if any grown-up lived long enough to let the disease run its full course”) nor is any character safe. It's up to a sequel to sort out some plot threads, but this is a solid start. Ages 12–up.

July 1, 2010
Gr 7 Up—-n this dystopian thriller set in London, everyone over 16 is dead or diseased, and youngsters are in constant danger of being eaten by boil-infested grown-ups who roam the streets like zombies looking for children to kill. Led by teens Arran and Maxie and armed with makeshift weapons, a group of kids sets out from the uncertain safety of an abandoned supermarket to travel to Buckingham Palace, where a young messenger promises that food, medicine, and a haven are available. Along the way, Arran is killed. One youngster selfishly decides to stay behind with a secret stash of food and is there to tell Small Sam, who had been abducted and feared dead, where the others (including his sister) have headed. Sam's quest to find Ella parallels the story of the large group with similar run-ins with marauding adults and mistrustful children who scavenge about the city. The bleak setting is filled with decay, danger, and puss-oozing parents who have turned into butchers. On arriving at Buckingham Palace, Maxie decides that David, the teen leader there, is too tyrannical, and she must regain control of her brood and convince them to leave for a new location. The last chapter squelches any real hope for the future and will leave readers somewhat haunted and chilled about the doomsday scenario. Descriptive and suspenseful, this title is similar to but less imaginative than Patrick Ness's "Chaos Walking" series (Candlewick).—"Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2010
Grades 9-12 The imagined zombie apocalypse has been the inspiration behind dozens of movies, books, and comics over the past decade, and though Higson adds few innovations, his gusto is something to behold. Eighteen months have passed since everyone over 16 succumbed to a virus that turned them into rotting, ravenous monsters, and there are enclaves of kids all over London eking out survival. Barricaded inside of a store, about 50 refugees have constructed their own societywhich is shaken when a boy arrives spinning tales of a wonderful settlement housed within Buckingham Palace. The action from that point alternates between the groups harrowing journey across the city and the grueling plight of Sam, a nine-year-old whose separation from the pack leads to an encounter with cannibals. Some of the characters feel like placeholders, but the action is of the first orderHigson writes with a firestorm velocity that inspires to the sweeping reach of Stephen Kings The Stand (1978). A muscular start to what looks to be a series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2010
Small bands of children struggle to survive in London after an epidemic has killed most adults--and reduced the survivors to cannibalistic monsters. One kid-group leader, Maxie, deals with the aftermath of the violence while another main character, Sam, tries to reunite with the group. The story introduces and violently eliminates characters in a long parade of gruesome scenes. A vivid, grisly post-apocalyptic horror story.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)