Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts

Across the world, earthquakes shudder. Something is released. Trust no-one - not even yourself. The killing game has begun...

Four different stories run in parallel through this pre to post-apocalyptic tale. We follow Michael, Aries, Mason and Clementine as their lives change irreversibly following a series of worldwide earthquakes that lead to devastation and terror. The earthquakes not only cause terrible destruction to the world's major cities, but also have a terrifying effect on a large proportion of the population. Friends attack each other, parents brutally kill their own children, boyfriends turn on girlfriends as an unstoppable rage takes over people's brains.

Our four lead characters are unaffected by the rage, and so they are in an immediate and thrilling fight for survival, each narrowly avoiding a savage death on several occasions. We travel with them as they each make a slow and painful journey to safety, losing friends and allies regularly along the way.

Dark Inside is a very filmic book, which put me in mind of a (slightly) milder version of The Road or I am Legend. The journey is dark and bleak, with tension throughout. The difference between this book and some of the other zombie-type fiction around at the moment is the moments of clarity that some of the killing creatures experience. They are not all mindless murderers with a desire for brains. They are tactical and cunning, which makes them all the more scary, and the reader more fearful for the main characters as they learn, too late in some cases, not to trust anyone.

Jeyn Roberts has debuted with an accomplished and pretty scary novel, one which I wouldn't be surprised to see 'coming to a cinema near you'...

Age group 13+
Published by Macmillan Children's Books 
02/09/2011