About the Book
-
Author:
- Neal Shusterman
- Genres:
- Action-Adventure
- Science Fiction
Cover Story: Have a Nice Death
Drinking Buddy: One Pill Makes You Bigger
MPAA Rating: R (Action movie violence, sexuality, language)
Talky Talk: Chapter Titles
Bonus Factors: The 1%ers, Pandemic, Roadside America
Bromance Status: Lockdown Buddy
Cover Story: Have a Nice Death
I like it. There’s so much they could have done wrong with this cover, the worst being trying to portray our three main characters. The smiley face in the midst of agony is a nice way to show the gist of the book.
The Deal:
Forget the Corona virus. Humanity is now faced with the Crown Royale virus, which kills one out of every twenty-five infected. But those who recover…are changed. They’re eternally at peace. Blissful. They no longer care about anything. They just want to do what’s right for their fellow humans, for their neighbors, for all of humanity. Billionaires giving away their entire fortunes on a whim. People dedicating themselves to the homeless and sick. Pure enlightenment, in the form of a disease.
Tiburón ‘Rón’ Escobedo is the son of Blas Escobedo, one of the wealthiest men in the world (maybe the wealthiest, now that recoverees are giving away their possessions). Blas named all his kids after apex predators (Tiburón is Spanish for ‘shark’). Fearing the virus will turn him into the next Howard Hughes, he wants to take his family into isolation. But his rebel son has other plans. Rón pretty much deliberately contracts the virus. Now in a permanent state of joy, he wanders the country, seeing what there is to see. But Rón is kind of a unique case, medically. In addition to his father, there are other people looking for him. People who want to study him. Maybe even dissect him.
Mariel Hogan essentially lives in a car with her mother, who was dreamy and shiftless before the pandemic. She met Rón by chance, and now she’s his friend, his travel companion, and his protector. But she’s kind of a medical oddity as well, and knows she and her buddy have to lay very low, for the…well, for the rest of their lives.
Morgan Willmon-Wu is a young woman who’s willing to do anything to get ahead. It’s not surprising that Dame Havilland, one of the wealthiest women in the world, signed her fortune over to Morgan. What is surprising is she did this before she contracted the illness. Havilland worked hard for that power and doesn’t want it to be given away if she goes all la la with Crown Royale. Morgan goes from struggling to incalculably rich and powerful overnight. And she’s going to do what it takes to hang on to that.
Drinking Buddy: One Pill Makes You Bigger
Mariel and Rón were a couple of great road tripping buddies, one step ahead of everyone else. They are literally running from not one, but two of the most powerful people on earth, but still take time to do good deeds and see the sights. I’d ride with them.
Morgan, on the other hand…
A strange woman leaves her a Midas fortune, with the only stipulation she not give it back. Well, Morgan is good with that. In fact, she has Dame Havilland evicted from her own home, and sent to live on a desolate farm. Maybe that’s following the letter of the law, but not the spirit. And when she realizes Rón and Mariel may hold the key to the virus, she’ll do anything to find them. Anything.
MPAA Rating: R (Action movie violence, sexuality, language)
This was a good, old-fashioned story of a couple of kids on the run from some James Bond-esque villains. Also a lot of good slice of life stories about random people dealing with the virus from all around the world. I especially liked it when the prisoners in a maximum security facility all started singing ‘Hey Jude’ together.
As for the romance side of things, you can’t beat Dame Havilland teaming up Rooks, her old butler, in more ways than one.
Talky Talk: Chapter Titles
This book is over 500 pages, but it had chapter titles, which I love. Three POVs: Mariel, Rón, and Morgan, with unique voices. I also liked randomly looking at how things were going in Japan, Russia, or Brazil. It really is a worldwide pandemic.
Bonus Factor: The 1%ers
We’ve all fantasized that we were so wealthy that we could throw money around like so much chaff. But inside every rich person, there’s a tiny, scared child who just wants to be liked. That’s not really true, they’re all soulless monsters, but bear with me for the sake of this book. Blas can buy and sell nations, but still feels the sting of those who resent a last name like Escobedo. Dame Hallivand likes to throw money to charities, but in ways that get subtle revenge against her enemies. And Morgan, who grew up poor, is not going to let anything take that away from her, now that she’s a billionaire. They say money changes a person…but so does Crown Royale.
Bonus Factor: Pandemics
I think we’re going to see a lot of pandemic lit in the future. With the anti-science movement heating up and an increasingly negative opinion about health services, we may get some more real life examples.
But I dug Rón’s mask that projected a digital image of the wearer’s face. I also liked how some of the more morally bankrupt people in the book made a conscious effort to subvert their own post-Royale personalities. ‘I can’t kill you…but maybe I won’t save your life, either.’
Bonus Factor: Roadside America
From the streets of San Francisco to the suburbs of Indiana…from the heart of Silicon Valley to a secret lab in the Arctic…well, you get the picture. There’s an awesome standoff at a Buc-ees travel plaza. I’m surprised the publisher didn’t have to use a fake name. But you’re going to name a disease after a whiskey, why not?
Bromance Status: Lockdown Buddy
A nice long book that could while away the time until we get the all clear…
Literary Matchmaking
The Waning Age, by S.E. Gove, deals with a personality-altering medical condition.
Iain S. Thomas’s Intentional Dissonance deals with a population that is always happy, due to government-mandated drugs.
Jennifer Lynn Barnes’s The Inheritance Games series also deals with a young woman who suddenly comes into possession of a vast fortune.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received a free copy of the book from the publisher, but no money. But hey, property is theft.
