Feral

By: James DeMonaco, B. K. Evenson

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter, Brittany Pressley, Erin Spencer, Jorjeana Marie, Hillary Huber

Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

From James DeMonaco, the writer/director of The Purge film franchise, comes the provocative and terrifying last stand of a lone outpost of women in the wake of a deadly pandemic.

Allie Hilts was still in high school when a fire at a top-secret research facility released an air-borne pathogen that quickly spread to every male on the planet, killing most. Allie witnessed every man she ever knew be consumed by fearsome symptoms: scorching fevers and internal bleeding, madness and uncontrollable violence. The world crumbled around her. No man was spared, and the few survivors were irrevocably changed. They became disturbingly strong, aggressive, and ferocious. Feral.

Three years later, Allie has joined a group of hardened survivors in an isolated, walled-in encampment. Outside the guarded walls, the ferals roam free and hunt. Allie has been noticing troubling patterns in the ferals' movements, and a disturbing number of new faces in the wild. Something catastrophic is brewing on the horizon, and time is running out. The ferals are coming, and there is no stopping them.

With Feral, writer/director James DeMonaco and acclaimed novelist Brian Evenson have created a challenging and entertaining novel of timely horror and exhilarating suspense.

©2017 James DeMonaco (P)2017 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

" Feral starts out by being creepy. As it moves forward Feral becomes chilling and then turns terrifying. This is definitely - absolutely, positively - a book to be read with all the lights on!" (Robert McCammon, best-selling author of Swan Song and Boy's Life)

"Feral is nasty excitement, a wild, jolting ride from start to finish. Enjoy." (Andrew Pyper, author of The Demonologist)

"A bloody tale of apocalypse...Told from multiple perspectives, this nail-biter, packed with plenty of gore to satisfy horror fans, offers a neat woman-power twist on the zombie-apocalypse story and a surprisingly poignant, satisfying ending." ( Publishers Weekly)

Good, but not amazing.

This book started off strong and hooked me in immediately, but I was quickly thrown off by the multiple points of view. The switch between first person point of view and third person didn't offer anything to the story and seemed unnecessary. I actually stopped listening for a while in lieu of better narrated books but I came back to this book repeatedly because the premise of the story was interesting and made you want to know what happened.

It's an interesting take on an apocalypse and I was invested in hearing about the ferals, but many of the characters were annoying and juvenile, which is probably the point but it was hard to listen to them make dumb choices over and over and over. The story is very plot driven making some of the choices almost too stupid just to continue the plot instead of being interested in the characters choice.

Overall this story had great potential, and was an okay listen, but it won't be one that I will listen to or read again like I do with my favorites.

I love this book

This book drew me in and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Hope there's another book coming. Doesn't feel like the end.

Worth the trip - Wanting a 2nd Feral novel

What did you love best about Feral?

Kept up with the pace, dragged only in moments where character buildup was needed, made me able to picture everything in my mind while I was away on road trip

What did you like best about this story?

The story itself, its around the type of stories I like to read

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

Alley

Any additional comments?

Wanting a 2nd Feral novel. Preferably bringing back the same characters and continuing the story and maybe bring back one character in particular that seems to not have made it. All though a good story and fast read, it is very predictable in most cases and you as the reader kind of know what to expect before the events take place. That being said I enjoyed it, take it for what it is. I did not care for "The Purge" movies, seen them with my kids and they all suck but I am a fan of BK Evenson and his stories of Dead Space, based on the game. Waiting for another Dead Space novel but enjoyed this good read.

Entertaining YA novel

I assumed that this book would be a horror novel because of the connections with the film, The Purge. While I've never actually seen The Purge, yhe previews make it look frightening. Well, you know what they say about assuming... Definitely not a scary book, and not an edge of your seat nail biter. It was an interesting, if subdued, plot that was obviously written for the YA audience.

I need a part 2!!!!!

loved it! great story line and great narrative. please please please make a part two!!!!

LOVED!!

This book scared the @?%# out of me! EXCELLENT! I would definitely recommend it to anyone

Really enjoyed it

I really enjoyed listening to this book. I was surprised that my favorite part was the romance, because I bought it seeking a thriller/dystopian story. There’s plenty of that as well, but it’s highly entertaining. I also enjoyed reading a novel with strong and complex female characters.

captivating

I really enjoyed this book and fell in love with the characters. I definitely recommend this book.

A refreshing zombie twist

Overall I enjoyed the story, premise, and characters. All the women were diverse in both personality and motivation, and the visual descriptions were refreshingly straightforward without any of the overtly sexy descriptions you get sometimes, and the depiction of sexual assault was not the sort of voyeuristic shock porn so often seen. The premise as a sex-based virus was done well, but I would've liked to see an exploration of gender identities, even as a passing note. A trans male survivor, for example, might've had a unique experience. But I digress, it was an entertaining novel and I appreciated the ladies who read.

Love it!!!

It’s my second time reading! Would Def recommend to any and everyone, kept me at the edge of my seat at all times.