'A multi-national research team, led by a medical genomics expert suffering from MS, study an ancient pandoravirus at a remote Siberian research facility. Called "Molli" by the research team, the organic substance reveals some unique but troublesome characteristics, qualities that, in the wrong hands, could lead to human extinction. The researchers soon learn that even in the right hands, Molli is a force too dangerous to escape their compound. But the virus has a mind of its own, and it wants out.'
I guess it's thank to the current global pandemic that's happening that I was expecting a book that would be dealing with a more traditional disease, possibly an apocalyptic aftermath of an outbreak. But, that's not what The Apocalypse Strain offers, instead it's much closer to body horror movies like The Thing in tone and style.
The story is set in a remote research station in the Siberian wilderness, a facility shit away in one of the coldest and most inhospitable places on Earth. The facility has its own private security, researchers, and even a group of astronauts using the surrounding wilderness to train for their mission to Mars. It's this group of astronauts who discovered an ancient birds nest buried in the ice for 30,000 years, a nest that contains some never before seen viruses.
Whilst this initial setup, finding something ancient buried in the ice, feels very much like John Carpenter's horror classic The Thing the book goes out of its way to make itself feel different in the very first chapter, where we see the astronaut who makes this discovery being spurred on to the location by the ghostly voice of his dead daughter. It makes the book feel creepy from the outset, and shows that this is no normal virus or organism that we're dealing with, but something that's able to get inside people's heads, access their memories, and manipulate them.
After a while this sense of the unknown and more ghostly horror takes a backseat for some downright disturbing moments where the infection spreads through the facility. Mutating and destroying the hosts, this virus can reshape its victims in a variety of ways. Some become monstrous humans, whilst others transform into insect-like monsters, and some even become sentient ooze that chases the survivors through the maze-like halls of the facility. There's no constant to those infected, other than that a horrific fate awaits anyone who the virus touches.
The book gives us a few survivors to root for, and manages to make it so that most of them never feel completely safe, other than the main lead Clara. There are a number of characters who each get moments of heroics, that makes you think they're more likely to make it out alive, only to have them suffer horrible deaths a few chapters later. Jason Parent manages to craft a story where you're always guessing who the next victim might be, and usually not going for the obvious choices.
Clara is clearly the main character though, and thanks to something that happens to her fairly early on it means you never really feel like she's in danger of death. However, I wasn't sure what to make of her when she was first introduced. Clara is disabled and has MS, and the chapter she's introduced has some rather unpleasant descriptions of her condition. Passages like 'the multiple sclerosis had ravaged her body, gobbled up a lithe sprinter and swimmer, and shat out a contorted heap of wasted flesh' and Clara's hatred of her entire life come across as a little abelist. As a disabled person myself these kind of moments always broke me out of the book and made me feel uncomfortable. The author seemed to make the choice that Clara had to hate her existence due to her disability, even wishing herself dead at one point, because they couldn't see a disabled person not being like that. Yes, disability can change your life and take a toll, but it felt a little insulting to imply that you'd be better dead than disabled.
The story also gives Clara a miraculous cure for her condition, and uses this as her reason for suddenly wanting to live again, to no longer feel like her life s worthless because she can use her legs again and fights to stay alive. I don't think that any of this was done maliciously, or even consciously, but this kind of characterisation and narrative definitely contributes to abelism in society.
Overall the story was engaging, it had some interesting characters and had enough twists and turns in the narrative to always make you feel invested. You never get complacent because you never know who will be the next to die, and the book keeps you guessing who will make it out alive right until the end. Fans of horror are sure to find something they love in this book.
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