Book Review #2:Last Town on Earth

Throughout the experience of reading my book, I have come to realize Thomas Mullen's writing style. In "The Last Town on Earth," Mullen does not use any special style of writing; what I think is special about it is that it subtly allows you to slip into the world he created.

"The doctor passed only two other autos during the fifteen-minute drive, saw but a lone pedestrian even though it was noon on Sunday, a time when people normally would be returning home from church, visiting with friends and family. The flu and been in Timer Falls for three weeks now, by the doctor's best estimation, and nearly all traffic on streets had vanished. The sick were condemned to their homes, and the healthy weren't venturing outside."

I feel this is a good quote to show his style. When reading this, I am immediately pulled into the doctor's point of view, seeing what he sees as he drives his car in Timber Falls, and feeling shock of the flue on his mind. Much of his writing pulls me into the book like this.  He does an expert job of allowing the reader to enter the world of any of the characters presented before them. When you are put into each character's mind, you realize that they are making extremely honest, life-changing decisions that challenge current moral issues; in essence, he puts the reader in the characters place and makes them think about what we would also do in their position. I am completely immersed in his world. He obviously took quality time to write his book. Each page is as thrilling as the next.

Compared to other book I have read about epidemics like this one, I have not found them as impressive as this. Firstly, the ones that I have read are extremely cliche. They all are extremely dramatized, focusing on the events themselves and simply "how many people died." Also, they did not allow me to understand what any of the characters were experiencing, or even the world around them. Much of the other books simply focused on the "epidemic" view of the situation.