The Rain

Synopsis:

It's in the rain...and just one drop will kill you.

They don't believe it at first. Crowded in Zach's kitchen, Ruby and the rest of the partygoers laugh at Zach's parents' frenzied push to get them all inside as it starts to drizzle. But then the radio comes on with the warning, "It's in the rain! It's fatal, it's contagious, and there's no cure."

Two weeks later, Ruby is alone. Anyone who's been touched by rain or washed their hands with tap water is dead. The only drinkable water is quickly running out. Ruby's only chance for survival is a treacherous hike across the country to find her father-if he's even still alive.

 

 

My thoughts:

This book made my holiday and not because of the torrential downpours that exploded from the sky each afternoon reminding me that Killer Rain could in fact easily become a reality but because The Rain was written so damn well.

It was a refreshing read, glimpsing at this new version of Armageddon, having averted the global disaster of an incoming asteroid, skilfully blown up by missiles, the debris slowly filtered into Earth's atmosphere, bringing with it a nasty space bacterium. This bacterium loves moisture. So naturally it has a party in the clouds for a good long while until it decides to get the world involved.
A single drop is all it takes for the bacterium to chow down on your flesh, most victims scratch themselves bloody until they die no more than three hours later. And I am intrigued at the most obvious question, Why does it only kill people? The animals are fine.
My only quarrel, it was unfortunately through fifteen year old Ruby's eyes.

Don't get me wrong. Ruby is written extremely well. You're typical, self-obsessed, socialite young teen who cares about five things: Casper McCloud, her appearance, her friends, her mobile and Caspar McCloud. For someone stuck in the middle of a global crisis, she seems completely blind to just how bad it really is.

She obsesses over her social status even though all her friends are dead(bar one) and still finds time to hate possibly her only remaining friend, Saskia, because she likes the same guy, who is also dead(so why waste time bitching?).

There are a lot of choices Ruby makes that I don't agree with but I suppose in such a difficult time, she's allowed to go slightly off the rails and that may be how a clueless teenager reacts. It seems after her lack of ability to watch the skies, zombifying herself with layers of make-up and fake tan, she always seems to get away lightly, finding cover just before the inevitable happens or gaining the aid of strangers who appear out of thin air.

Her quirky narrative can be a godsend at times, lifting the mood ever so slightly when its needed but the majority of the time Ruby seems self-absorbed and her thoughts are disjointed from the task at hand. Not exactly heroine material, although I commend her for rescuing the widowed pets of her neighbours though I'm not sure I can forgive forgetting the Guinea Pigs(Shaggypig and Arya would never forgive me).

After the loss of her step-father, she's compelled to find her real Dad in London. This spurs on a journey with Darius the spotty Nerd and BBK a.k.a Bin Bag Kid who are holed up in the local school. Taking it upon herself to drive, she starts and stalls her way down South, finally coming to a dead end at an Army barrier.

Darius and BBK willing go with another family but Ruby doesn't trust them and does a runner(again, in the middle of nowhere, with no shelter, no waterproofs and a giant cloud looming overhead).

After a shop binge through Oxford Street in which she meets her transgender fairy godmother who proceeds to make her look 'fabulous'(yes, this is no joke, this actually happens), she strolls into the Hyde Park Army pick-up in search of her Father.

The Army questions her or rather assesses her and loads her as well as other strangers onto a coach and ships them out the city. Along the way she reconnects with Darius for a short-time.

We find him with Saskia practically dripping off his arm claiming that their engaged.

Ruby loses it and storms back to the coach which ends up dumping them in a desolate village in the beginnings of a storm because they're 'useless' and have no ties to anyone important.

 Three guesses why Saskia was hanging onto the Nerd.

 

The whole downfall of society is perfectly portrayed in my eyes and is exactly how I would expect the supposed government to handle the situation. My favourite scene by far has to be the swimming pool. I won't go into why exactly but it is brutal, bloody and perfect in every way.

 

The Storm is the much anticipated sequel(at least for me!) and I can't wait to see how the series proceeds. I can only hope that Ruby finally comes to her senses and starts to act like a normal human being enduring the end of the world.