A deadly plague. A twisted plot. A family torn apart.

In a world gripped by a deadly threat, a young man’s quest for recognition sets in motion a chain of events that will shape destinies. Fuelled by inner turmoil, he seizes an opportunity presented by a mysterious figure, launching a plan that spans continents and unleashes chaos.

As the scheme escalates beyond their control, law enforcement and intelligence agencies converge, turning the streets of London, the hills of Wales, and the labs of Mozambique into a battleground.

In the shadow of imminent danger, each player grapples with the consequences of their choices and confronts the ghosts of their pasts.

The fabric of family is stretched to its limits, torn apart by the unpredictable twists of fate. This suspenseful tale weaves a narrative of intrigue and suspense, exploring the lengths individuals will go to carve out their place in a world overshadowed by a deadly plague.

Brace yourself for a riveting journey through the complexities of ambition, deception, and the indomitable human spirit.

DISCLAIMER:

I do not know the author of Rabbit Fever, Glen Tooke. I found his book by chance – he liked or replied to a comment I left on someone else’s blog (I forget which), I looked at his blog and saw he had written a book. I read a lot. Like a serious amount. I have a kitty that likes to demand my lap as his personal cushion most evenings and weekends when I’m home, so I tend to be sitting binge watching or reading. Usually reading.

When I encountered Mr. Tooke’s blog, I had been binging on a web series that, while awesome, I was finding less engaging. This was less bc the story was failing and more bc I needed a diff tale to engage my mind. I like to read both fiction and non-fiction and if I focus on a particular story for too long I can get less connected. Rabbit Fever came at the right time. It was only $2.99 for an eBook copy, it sounded different enough from what I had been immersing myself in and, well, the author had liked or replied to a comment I made!

HOW I ASSESS BOOKS:

For new authors, like Mr. Tooke, I am a bit more lenient than ones I read a lot of stuff by or who have an extensive back catalogue, particularly if they are self-published rather than through some massive publishing house. First novelists getting published by some big publisher have the advantage of lots of experts to polish what they have written that self-publishers do not.

As a reader I make 2 investments with a book – what I pay for it in dollars and cents, and the time I put into it. Usually the second of these is the big concern. I’ve read professionally published books by big authors that were not worth the time. This is definitely an issue when they f-up the ending. For example, I once read a book by a big name author where the protagonist had a face to face with the main bad guy and killed them by quietly placing an incendiary grenade in their pocket and leaving. After having suspended belief to it’s limits already with the story, I had a WTF moment! Wouldn’t they notice – grenades ain’t light??? And don’t grenades have, like a several second delay, not minutes!!! Another one (fantasy) had the whole story turn out to be a magic-induced falsehood cast on one of the secondary characters. I tossed that book in the trash, the ultimate insult from a book lover like me.

My Review of RABBIT FEVER

Reading the blurb for the book above, I had expected the plotter’s plan to be vaster in scope, with a greater network behind him and spread across the globe. Although the story does take place across 2 continents, the plot is limited to far fewer individuals. As such it is less the grand world altering outbreak of COVID-19, and more the impact of a targeted attack upon those involved in dealing with or causing it. This is definitely to the story’s benefit as the author is not trying to write a cinematic spectacular with nations on edge, but the interweaved stories of several individuals. There isn’t really a clear protagonist, but several leading characters, introduced at different stages of the story. I did enjoy this aspect of the story as it didn’t treat any one of these characters as the ‘star’ making it harder to predict both the way the story would unfold and the eventual ending.

Additionally, although the story revolves around the deliberate plague outbreak, the outbreak itself is almost peripheral to the real focus of the book, the relationships and interactions between the main characters.

I don’t want to get too involved in detailing the plot as, as a reader, I like to engage the story with as few spoilers as I can. However, the story for me gained an engaging twist that I hadn’t expected in Chapter 9 when an existing character is found to have a link to the plot, and then really came into it’s own once it started exploring two different timelines, continuing both the main story and looking back to some of the events that brought it to that stage.

Some of the characters can come across as a little flat, but where the character building works best is in the interactions between key players. These were the heart of the book and created the depth I was looking for. For example an unnamed female who only comes into the story in the last third and is only in it for a short while, adds extra shading to the nature and reasons of someone who we have been reading about for some time, while also, through her interactions with him and others, becomes someone you could believe was real and has her own interesting story in another novel.

The book is not perfect. There were a number of typos and more than once a sentence was broken into two. Some of the dialogue felt clunky and not as if it was being said by a real person. This is actually a pretty common problem for dialogue, with what works and feels natural on the page not translating to movies and vice versa. Some of the prose feels like it needs rewording, coming across more like it belongs to a factual article than a novel.

From his blog, I can see the author enjoys writing and writes a lot, but I don’t know how much fiction writing he has done, particularly of this length (the book is about 350 pages). Assuming he is still fairly new to writing novels, then all of the issues above are to be expected in a self-published book. A professional editor could probably have given feedback and guidance on rewrites, which is where new authors who get published by a publishing company have a huge advantage in how polished their books can look. At the same time, it can also mean that literature gets canalized, as companies only publish works that fit a certain type and authors’ visions get wedged into a certain template (think most young adult literature being pushed out).

As I said above, as a reader, i make two investments in a book – money and time. The eBook cost of Rabbit Fever was only $2.99, but at 350 pages, the time investment was more significant. I’ve details the faults above, but these were more than offset by some great writing, generally great pacing that made me want to keep reading “one more chapter”, and a well thought out and interesting story.

I don’t know if Mr. Tooke plans on writing more novels, but if they meet the standard of Rabbit Fever, he can be assured to have me buying them.