A review by acouplereadss
And Then I Woke Up by Malcolm Devlin

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

A cured man in a treatment centre begins this story by telling us about his world. A world gone off the deep end, a world trying to get its bearing where a plague haunts everyone, a world where monsters roam and humans continue to survive through the wasteland. The disease is deceitful though, as it changes the way you perceive your reality. So are you really certain the monsters are the problem? Perhaps it’s you? Which reality is the real truth?

Without meaning to I read another post apocalyptic story, a haunting recount of a world where a virus has infected humans. But this isn’t your typical dystopian tale. Devlin takes the typical zombie script and spins it around. Listening to the unreliable Spence tell us what happened, we’re constantly wondering what is true and what is false. The virus doesn’t only infect people with a sickness, this virus creates monsters in the mind of the infected that causes group hallucinations in a shared psychosis. The overlaying metaphor in this book is glaringly timely.

Typically unreliable narrators and unreliable plots make my head spin and leave me frustrated. I’ll be honest I wasn’t completely sure if I enjoyed this and had to sit on it for a few days. Ultimately, I did really like the way Devlin unspooled what happened to the world and I liked the unpredictability of it. I also really appreciated the introspective look at humans and the psychology behind this story blew my mind. I’m sure some of it went over my head but that just means I’ll have to re-read it someday down the road.

And Then I Woke Up is a bit of Station Eleven dipped in horror, 3.5✨. Thank you @tordotcompub for sending me an advanced copy!