If I could, I would give this a 3 1/2 stars. The End of October is about a pandemic from a novel, fast-spreading form of influenza – a strain similar to the 1918 Spanish Flu.
Henry Parson works for the World Health Organization and visits Indonesia after a group of refugees and French aid-workers fall ill and die of an unexplained illness. After his research leads him to Saudi Arabia where he is stranded in a national quarantine. As the pandemic spreads worldwide, his wife and children are in Atlanta struggling to survive the chaos of fearful people and lawlessness. As Henry struggles to travel back to his family, he tries to save lives and find a treatment or vaccination for this deadly disease that has overtaken the world.
The book was published in March 2020 and is eerily prescient of the Coronavirus pandemic that through the US and the world into turmoil this year. Some actions taken and some characters are similar to real-life, although the book’s influenza is much more lethal than Coronavirus.
The book is well-researched which gives it a sense of possibility. However, I held it to 3 stars because while much of the book is fully-developed, he leaves many unanswered questions about certain deaths, how he reunites with his family and what happens next. Maybe he plans on a second book?
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