Antibody

By: Chris Williams

Narrated by: Greg D. Barnett

Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

Alice needs a vacation to escape her family, unemployment, and a global pandemic. When the world shuts down due to a newly discovered virus, Zenith Pharm, a major drug manufacturer, reveals a breakthrough in vaccine development and offers individuals an all-expenses-paid trip to a remote resort with an on-site testing facility. The catch: a little blood work, a little medicine - no big deal, right?

Between the constant parties and pool-side recreations, Alice and the other guests experience haunting nightmares, and people begin to disappear. Something dark lurks behind this exclusive resort, and Alice learns that Zenith Pharm has other, more malicious plans for its guests.

©2021 Chris Williams (P)2022 Chris Williams

Unexpected!

compelling story that doesn't go where you expect it to go. a breath of fresh air

A different journey for our current lives

Well written with twist and turns if you want a different explanation for why our lives are how they are right now give this book a chance.

He nailed it!

Chris Williams has written a phenomenal book, very chilling and relevant to the last couple of years. No spoilers, read the book, enjoy the book, allow your imagination to go down that rabbit hole. I hope to read a lot more books from Chris Williams in the future. Well done Chris, I eagerly await your next book.

A story you think you know with a big twist

A deadly pandemic breaks out and pharmaceutical companies are testing patients to find an antibody. If you I think you know where this is heading, think again.

The Good:
- The start in a very familiar fashion, making you feel like it's only going to be a pandemic horror story. it feels like it's going to be more of an unethical research kind of story, but halfway through it starts revealing many many layers that you were not expecting to be there.
- The characters are very well fleshed out, believable and relatable. you feel you understand their motivations clearly and these motivations evolve as they go through the story. Even characters that at first you feel you aren't going to like, end up winning you over.
- Chris Williams does a great job at foreshadowing the events that unfold throughout the story. she also does a great job at misleading you in certain areas into thinking the story is going to zig when it's going to zag.
- There are certain horror aspects that I will not spoil about the story that, when they are revealed are in danger of being cliches, but Williams manages to go a few layers deeper into what could have been shallow description and characterization to turn it into something three-dimensional.
- I do not want to spoil the big reveal of the story, but I loved it so much. I was not expecting it, and less talented writers might have fumbled it and made it feel jarring, but Williams makes it work very well.

The Bad:
- The very first chapter feels like a false start somehow, because you feel this is the thread that you're going to be following in the story but then other threads are revealed before you realize that this is a multi POV story, and it threw me a little in the beginning. But once the main characters are established it's smooth sailing from there.
- The pacing of the story is very good and very relentless, which is a positive, but the moment the big reveal happens halfway through the story, it takes off so quickly that at times I wish it would linger a little on some aspect that I was more curious about.
- The ending can be a little abrupt, not badly, since all threads are touched upon, but the ending was the part where I felt slowing down a little bit would have helped digest the events and entice the imagination a little more about "what comes after." It felt a little less like story closure, and more like bullet points or synopsis at the end of an episode.

The Different:
- As I mentioned before, I like the bait and switch this story so deftly pulls on you. because instead of feeling like a bait and switch, it feels like a "oh so that's what those other things were hinting at." for me that sets the story apart, and it makes it worth the price and the listen alone.
- As a queer writer, Williams takes great care in fleshing out any queer characters in his book, but what sets him apart from other authors is that he does this in favor of the story, not making the characters "stand out for their queerness" but as characters in an ensemble that simply happen to be queer. It's an important part of their identity but it isn't their WHOLE identity. It's a pitfall that many authors fall into and he avoids.

Final Words:
I absolutely recommend this book. While you could see it as a standalone story, it could easily be the setup for something further in a world created by the author. I enjoyed the characters, I enjoyed the mystery, I enjoyed the reveals.