**POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE ENEMY AND THE DEAD**
Higson wonderfully carries on his excellent zombie series with this third instalment. This time reading the prior books is fairly essential to the story and we have a proper sequel and not just a prequel like The Dead was, as well as some nice links to all the gangs of kids, such as Waitrose, Morrisons, Buckingham Palace and The Tower lots. However, as I read the previous books a fair while ago, I found myself struggling to remember the kids from these groups, so perhaps a reread may be a good idea before embarking on the third book.
This time we mainly follow the lives of DogNut, Courtney and a few fighters as they aim to reunite with their ‘Tesco van’ friends whom they were cruelly split from in The Dead, although they aren’t sure where they would be, or if they’re even still alive. London is as dangerous as ever, and a fatal mistake of leaving one behind is going to have serious consequences for them all…
The Fear was full of twists - some I saw coming, most I didn’t - with the same trademark fast pace that keeps you reading long into the night. Again, I have to warn off the easily disturbed and queasy as it is a zombie novel after all, and Higson does not shy away from gruesome events and descriptions, but this is not my normal kind of book and I found it added to realising the danger the kids are in and imagining the post-apocalyptic world.
I didn’t enjoy The Fear quite as much as I did its predecessors The Enemy and The Dead – the plot and pace weren’t as tight and I felt this was more a lead up to the final books as it is a planned series of seven, which I personally feel is not really required. Nonetheless, I can’t wait to read the next one, The Sacrifice, probably this time next year.
[SYNOPSIS: HE DOESN’T KNOW IT BUT DOG NUT IS ABOUT TO SET OFF A CHAIN OF EVENTS THAT WILL AFFECT EVERY KID IN THE CITY.
The sickness struck everyone over the age of fourteen.
Mothers and fathers, older brothers, sisters and best friends. No one escaped its touch. And now children across London are being hunted by ferocious grown-ups . . .
They’re hungry. They’re bloodthirsty. And they aren’t giving up.
Dog Nut and the rest of his crew want to find their lost friends, and set off on a deadly mission from the Tower of London to Buckingham Palace and beyond, as the sickos lie in wait. But who are their friends and who is the enemy in this changed world?]
The sickness struck everyone over the age of fourteen.
Mothers and fathers, older brothers, sisters and best friends. No one escaped its touch. And now children across London are being hunted by ferocious grown-ups . . .
They’re hungry. They’re bloodthirsty. And they aren’t giving up.
Dog Nut and the rest of his crew want to find their lost friends, and set off on a deadly mission from the Tower of London to Buckingham Palace and beyond, as the sickos lie in wait. But who are their friends and who is the enemy in this changed world?]
