Paul Tremblay’s Survivor Song is technically horror, and if you go in expecting as much, you might be disappointed. To me, the novel was a dramatic story of friendship and persverance that happened to have a horrific setting. As always, with Tremblay, the story was also much more literary than the average horror novel.
The book begins in Massachusetts as a violent and fast-acting strain of rabies is starting to spread through the human and animal population. Our main character, Natalie (“Nats” for short), eight months pregnant, loses her husband very suddenly to an attack by an infected man and is bitten herself during the altercation. She reaches out to her best friend, pediatrician Ramola “Rams” Sherman, to help her get medical attention. From there, the story traces the two in the short few hours that follow.
Survivor Song was much more down to earth and less supernatural than the previous Tremblay books I’ve read (Disappearance at Devil’s Rock and Head Full of Ghosts). Because of this and, perhaps, because I also found it more drama than horror, the story seemed slow to start, other than the nerve-wracking prelude. However, even with the slow beginning, the bond we have with Nats and Rams makes it worth it by the very end.
(SPOILERS AHEAD)
The best part of Survivor Song, for me, was actually the appearance of two ‘randos,’ Josh and Luis, whom Tremblay fans may recognize from Disappearance at Devils Rock. They sweep in to assist the women about two-thirds of the way in and take the reader on a little detour of their own, before departing from the story. If you haven’t, I highly recommend reading Disappearance before this book to better understand that side journey.
Unfortunately, this is also why Survivor doesn’t rate as highly for me. I found myself more engaged with these familiar side characters than I was to Nats and Rams by the same point in the story. That said, the climax of Survivor, though expected, is still brutal, touching and well-told in a way that makes the climb to get there worth it.
Out of the three Tremblay novels I’ve read thus far, Survivor Song may rank third, but a novel that can keep you engaged–even when the eventual ending is inevitable from the beginning of chapter one–is worth the read.