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Survivor Song cover art

Survivor Song

By: Paul Tremblay
Narrated by: Erin Bennett
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Summary

A riveting novel of suspense and terror from the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts.  

In a matter of weeks, Massachusetts has been overrun by an insidious rabies-like virus that is spread by saliva. But unlike rabies, the disease has a terrifyingly short incubation period of an hour or less. Those infected quickly lose their minds and are driven to bite and infect as many others as they can before they inevitably succumb. Hospitals are inundated with the sick and dying, and hysteria has taken hold. 

To try to limit its spread, the commonwealth is under quarantine and curfew. But society is breaking down, and the government's emergency protocols are faltering. Dr. Ramola 'Rams' Sherman, a soft-spoken paediatrician in her mid-30s, receives a frantic phone call from Natalie, a friend who is eight months pregnant. Natalie's husband has been killed - viciously attacked by an infected neighbour - and in a failed attempt to save him, Natalie, too, was bitten. Natalie's only chance of survival is to get to a hospital as quickly as possible to receive a rabies vaccine. The clock is ticking for her and for her unborn child.  

Natalie's fight for life becomes a desperate odyssey as she and Rams make their way through a hostile landscape filled with dangers beyond their worst nightmares - terrifying, strange and sometimes deadly challenges that push them to the brink.  

Paul Tremblay once again demonstrates his mastery in this chilling and all-too-plausible novel that will leave listeners racing to the end...and shake them to their core.

©2020 Paul Tremblay (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"Intensely gripping, shocking, and raw, Survivor Song is a visceral ride through a couple of hours of a deadly disease outbreak. Tremblay pulls no punches, but you wouldn't want him to - his characters are real people, and it's the brutal honesty that helps this terrifying song soar." (Tim Lebbon, author of Eden)

"Brutality spreads in this novel as swiftly as the wild epidemic Tremblay has invented. A daring, terrifying work packed with horror, but also with larger questions about what meaningful survival might be." (Idra Novey, author of Those Who Knew)

What listeners say about Survivor Song

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A tale of desperation, despair and survival

I really enjoyed this audiobook - if 'enjoyed' is the word, as it's quite a harrowing tale. It takes place over only a few short hours of time (apart from the epilogue), and Paul Tremblay has done a marvellous job in conveying the terror, desperation, hopelessness and determination to survive that is demonstrated by the two protagonists, best friends Nat and Ram. The friends are wonderfully realised characters and I loved them both, which made the trials they go through even more hard to bear. The story is simple and very moving, and very well narrated by Erin Bennett. A little bonus for a native of north east England (like me) is the mention of recognisable local places and landmarks in and around Newcastle!

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Pseudo-zombie apocalypse thriller

Audible has this categorised as a horror novel, but I consider it to be more of a thriller. If you go into this expecting to be scared then I think you’ll be disappointed. The plot is reasonably fast paced and is compelling enough that I got through the entire book in a single day.
One thing that may be off-putting for some people is that the book is written in the present tense, which I found rather jarring at first, but I eventually acclimatised to it. That said, I don’t think it really adds much to the story, so I’m not sure why the author made this choice.
I’d say the performance is the weakest aspect of the book. The narrator had a rather flat voice, which kind of reminds me of text-to-speech programs. Her efforts at male voices were particularly immersion-breaking. Of course, you can listen to the sample and come to your own judgement on this point.
Overall, despite this audiobook having its weak points, I found it to be a reasonably well-crafted story that didn’t outstay its welcome.

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3 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars

Poor Book

Was really looking forward to this but I'm so disappointed. Found it boring and struggled to get through it and that's saying something as it's only 8 or so hours. Very poor

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Surviving a drone

Very disappointing. Boring, slow, annoying writing style and characters. To think that I renewed my subscription for this...

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Poor

It's was poor story, thought is would get better, but nope. Guess just not my type of story

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Zom-baby

Good story here with the usual impressive writing style of Tremblay. I at this point i have now read all Paul Tremblays book and i have never been disappointed and Survivor song is no different. The two main characters are well developed and made me really connect with them in a way that I was rooting for them all the way. Some excellent side characters drift in and out as the story unfolds which helps supplement the main characters' arcs.

The narration performance is great and serves the story well.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent! Original take on an Apocalypse.

Not sure what the negative reviews are about but I’d just ignore them. The narrator is great and the story is excellent.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

narrator was so bad I returned the book.

narrator was so bad I had to stop listening and returned the book. how this came with as recommendation is beyond me. might try the Kindle version, just hope that narrators voice doesn't haunt my thoughts while reading tho.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Possibly one of the worst books on Audible.

I wasted a cedit on this because it promised a thrilling storyline and zombie style action but it delvered neither. All I got was a disjointed chick lit type story that flitted all over the place. I tried to finish it but only got halfway.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Wistful Apocalypse With Echoes of Station Eleven

🧡 This is much more emotional than most apocalyptic/pandemic novels. It focuses almost entirely on heavily pregnant Natalie and her best friend Rams, a doctor. I’d argue that this is a love story; a heart-rending tale of friendship. And it works. I got some serious chills as the besties did whatever it took to try and deliver Natalie’s baby safely.

💚 The tone shifts around from quirky and comical - especially Natalie’s sections - to the wistful voice of the all-knowing narrator. The narrator especially has a poetic turn of phrase reminiscent of the writing in Station Eleven, another intriguingly unorthodox apocalypse audiobook.
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SOUNDBITE

🎧 Erin Bennett delivers a hauntingly beautiful performance. She totally hits all the quirky notes, while managing to tug the heartstrings when needs be. The production is simple yet flawless.

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