The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe

Let me get my major complaint about The Way We Fall out of the way first: it wasn't a zombie book. I recently started watching The Walking Dead, so I have had zombies on my braaaaain. I wanted to read a good old zombie novel. Unfortunately, this wasn't a zombie novel. It was still pretty good for what it was. It's about a small island community that suffers a sudden epidemic. People start to come down with a virus, then the people, lots of people, die. The government quarantines the island, they send in military to keep them from infecting the rest of the world.

The story is told in journal entries written by Kaelyn to her friend Lee. She just moved back to the island, and she is trying to be more outgoing. Then the outbreak happens, people around her get sick, and people around her die. Some people start being selfish, shooting infected people and stealing food and medicine to hoard. Kaelyn tries to do some good. She loots houses with Lee's ex-girlfriend Tessa, and she volunteers at the overcrowded hospital where her father works. It's still a terrible atmosphere. Either you get sick and die or you are sentenced to watch while everyone around you, everyone that you love, grows sick and most likely dies.

The Way We Fall is very good at creating a sense of paranoia. Who can tell if a sudden itch means you are infected, or if that sneezing fit is just some dust or the disease. While reading the book, I was suddenly overcome with itching one night, an itch that travelled from my stomach to my arm to my neck, just everywhere. Even though I knew it couldn't be true, for a brief moment I thought maybe I had the disease in the book. It's just another example of how a book can infect you (Ha, ha, ha, duck my head in shame).

I received my copy of The Way We Fall from Netgalley. It will be released on January 24th, 2012.