Today I’m reviewing A Day in the Life by Andrew Masseurs

Here’s the blurb

Michael awakens to a world where everyone has disappeared. Not only must he come to grips with the sudden loss of his family, but he must also survive in a changing, overgrown, dangerous world filled with new predatory creatures. A Day in the Life for a man on the edge.

Review

A Day in the Life is a super quick read at just over 80 pages, but boy does it deliver. I actually read the book then listened to the audio version just to see which was better and the narrator David Piper did such a great job of adding a manic edge to Michael as his world spirals.

Michael awakes one day to find his family already up and out… he goes for a run and things seem a little quiet.. it is a Sunday though… nothing too strange there.

When he gets home his family are still not back.. and their phones are still at home too.. they wouldn’t leave without their phones would they? At first Michael tired to play this off.. they will be ok.. they will walk back through the door soon.. but they don’t.

As Michael explores he finds no signs of anyone else either.. shops are empty..While he hurts at the thought of his missing family he must survive.. and the best thing he can do is stay put.. his family, if still alive will know where to find him.

We then see Michael tumble a little as he adjusts to being alone.. he goes out into the world and finds things to make his life as comfortable as possible, new cars, new TVs and so on.. but as you read you get the feeling Michael is in a little denile..keeping himself busy is stopping him from being overwhelmed by the pain of reality.

While out one day in hunt for supplies Michael meets a young girl who reminds him of his daughter a little.. he’s not alone in this world.. it makes him feel again and he only wants to help her..but this new world isn’t safe..and Michael can’t keep her safe..

Not to spoil things but this is where things spiral for Michael with pain added to pain.. pushing him closer and closer to doing something drastic.

There’s a spiritual edge to the tale as once or twice Michael sees the image of his wife… but it can’t be her can it.. if it was why isn’t she there with him?

Towards the end there’s a major reveal that explains what’s happened to the world Michael knew.. will this be a second chance..or is this the end?

For such a short tale I was amazed how much depth and emotion was present and while I loved reading the story I also really feel the narrated version really does the tale more justice than I could ever reading the tale myself.

The tale is dystopian in nature and makes you wonder what you may do if the world suddenly changed, it also makes you wonder what we’ve done to deserve the world we live in.. we take it for granted and for Michael his world is taken away overnight.. he’s not meant to survive but humans have a way of surviving don’t we..

As debuts go I can’t fault the story one bit, Impressed is an understatement. It’s not easy writing a book but to give such a full tale in under 100 pages.. wow.

I loved the characters and the development and that ending left me hooked..as in imagine what could happen next.

5/5 Stars

To find out more head to Amazon, Goodreads or Audible!