A review by lakecake
The Missing by Sarah Langan

3.0

The Missing was sort of like The Stand Lite....or 28 Days Later in book form, maybe. The town of Corpus Christi, Maine is infected by a virus of sorts--it travels quickly, and it turns the infected evil. Pretty hardcore evil. The book is scary and gruesome, and a fun read, but at the end I just felt kind of unfulfilled. Langan has a very Stephen King-like way with descriptions, but she lacks King's empathy for his subjects. Where Uncle Stevie makes you root for his characters and redeems at least some of them, Langan makes you want to care about them and then subjects them to a Job-esque existence where nothing goes right and the world sucks in the end. Arguably, that's more realistic, but in books I'd really like something to hope for. Definitely a good stormy night read, but prepare something light and uplifting for afterwards--you'll need it.