Wake - Elizabeth Knox

According to the publisher blurb, Wake is a "breathtaking tale of horror and survival", but after the initial nightmarish situation that wipes out most of the population of a small New Zealand coastal town, there would appear to be much more survival than horror in the story. The way the remaining 14 survivors deal with their situation isn't entirely conventional however, finding themselves in more of a surreal 'Lost' type situation that you begin to think might never live up to its promise. But hang in there, it does eventually deliver...

It doesn't help that you find it hard to relate to how any of the characters react to being trapped within what effectively seems to be a bubble, cut off entirely from the outside world. Their actions seem strange, there's little evidence of anyone sympathising with anyone else, and although some couples form, there's little real sense of them bonding as a group as you might expect in order to organise and resolve their problem. There's also not much sense of breakdown, considering what they've experienced and the danger that they still apparently face.

There are a few odd events however and one or two mystery figures among their number - a man in black, a woman with what appears to be a kind of multiple personality disorder - that suggests that we haven't really got the whole story here, and, by about half way through, things start picking up momentum and the intrigue develops. The horror, it would seem, hasn't gone away. If you need any further reason to stick with Wake, the author manages to tie things up pretty well and the ending doesn't let you down.