A review by shitbookreviews
The Pharmacist by Rachelle Atalla

dark hopeful sad medium-paced

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

3.5

(copy via netgalley)

TL;DR

Liked but didn’t love. This is a post-apocalyptic story about the residents of a bunker slowly losing their minds with too many loose ends for my liking

THE JUICE

Post-apocalyptic but put it underground in a bunker with what can only be described as a dictatory prick running the show. Here are the fancy bullet points:

✨ The chosen few flung into a nuclear fallout bunker
✨ A pharmacist (Sarah Wolfe) just trying to live her best life in an underground tin can
✨ Some insane power plays
✨ A moral compass that is being flung all over the place

Wolfe is lucky to be in the bunker. Or so she’s told over and over.

Being one of the few pharmacists in the bunker, she’s the resident’s pill giver-outer, dispensing everything from period products to diazepam in a vain attempt to tackle the crushing depression from living an insanely controlled life.

Whilst things have never exactly been peachy, the leader of the bunker, Natha Douglas or ND, starts to go all dictatory on their asses. With his behaviour becoming more erratic, he starts asking Wolfe for little favours in exchange for treats (such as solid food) which she can’t possibly refuse. The only question is, what is she willing to sacrifice for these little tastes of home?

THE TAKE

Given the way things are going right now, this book felt a little more like a glimpse into the future rather than a work of fiction. A terrifying thought but I’ve also played A LOT of the Fallout games so this genre is absolutely my jam.

HOWEVER.

I just couldn’t fall in love with this book. And it drove me up the wall because it sounded perfect. The only things I can think of were:

• Wolfe’s character was portrayed exactly as I imagined she would be except I neither loved nor despised her. She was just there doing uninteresting stuff.
• There’s no punctuation to show when someone’s talking which hurt my dyslexic brain and left me spending too much time figuring out which was dialogue and what was world-building.
• Loose ends. If you don’t like books that don’t tie things up nicely, this isn’t the book for you. I’ll put a wee spoilers bit on shitbookreviews.com to show you my VERY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS that I wish I could wrap up.

The plot points in this book are absolutely banging as is the world-building inside the bunker. I just wish there was a little more closure for my simple brain.

This is going to be a Marmite book – it will either be your jam or just not for you.