The Boy on the Bridge
by M R Carey
M.R. (Mike) Carey‘s 2014 book The Girl With All the Gifts was one of my favourite books of that year. The zombie phenomenon was riding high with the success of books like Max Brooks World War Z, The Walking Dead TV series and a plethora of other zombie related books and movies. Nevertheless, The Girl With All the Gifts stood out. Partially this was because of the relatable characters, but I think it was mostly because the book engaged with the part of the zombie genre that so many others avoided, the how and why. Carey‘s post-apocalyptic world is one in which there are answers to these questions that make sense and are grounded in science, if a little exaggerated.
The Boy on the Bridge is set about ten years before the events of The Girl With All the Gifts, and is about a team that sets out from Beacon Centre in the all terrain transport and science vehicle the Rosalind Franklin. Their mission is to collect samples and if possible find out about what happened to an earlier mission. The crew is a mix of science and military personnel, and for many of them the destruction of their world and way of life by the ‘hungries’ is still fresh in memory. Since the big reveal of the infected but still self aware children was part of the first book, when it happens in this one it’s not much of a surprise for the reader. It is for the characters though and, their difficulty processing the idea is an interesting part of the book. Through the memories of the various narrators we also get more of a picture of the collapse and the early days of Beacon Station.
There are few surprises in the book, but I nevertheless found myself very involved with the characters and their desperate search for some hope in the face of the Hungries and as it transpires the worst of humanity as well. Despite the familiarity of the world Carey does manage to deliver an unexpected ending and then cap it with a stunning epilogue that brings the two books together in a wonderful unified final scene. You could read this one without reading The Girl With All the Gifts. But I wouldn’t recommend it. Sequel / prequels are rarely as good as the original, but if they’re done right they remind you why you liked it so much and add something cool as well. This is done right.