White Horse by Alex Adams

In Alex Adams’ debut novel, the ‘white horse’ of the title is a terrible disease, its name coined by a religious leader foretelling apocalyptic doom – which is particularly apt for this dystopian novel. The story is told from the point of view of Zoe, a fragile woman in therapy after the death of her husband some years before. She works as a cleaner for a pharmaceutical company where she is regularly given injections supposedly against the flu.
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Simultaneously two things happen to Zoe that derail her routine. First of all a strange urn appears in her living room that she cannot account for. She also starts seeing a new therapist, the handsome Dr Rose, for whom she feels a strong attraction. Things might have turned out differently, if suddenly all around her people hadn’t begun to die.

Woven in with this narrative is one that begins over a year later when the world is a hellish nightmare, its few survivors struggling to find food or to fight off the genetically altered monsters the virus has created. Zoe, beginning to feel ill herself, is determined to reach Greece but her journey is hampered when she rescues a blind English girl. When they team up with a violent Swiss, the three form an uneasy alliance.

While Zoe is a fighter, she is also determined not to lose her sense of humanity, which makes her character one the reader can have sympathy with. Her development from the emotionally frail woman of the time before the virus also makes her interesting.

White Horse is one of the most compelling novels I have come across this year. However, with its scenes of violence and frequent bad language, it is not for the faint-hearted. This novel will no doubt appeal to readers who enjoyed Justin Cronin’s Passage novels. It is similarly the first book of a trilogy.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue Link: White Horse