A Lovely Way To Burn

Set in a London epidemic, Louise Welsh’s first psychological thriller in her Plague Times trilogy chronicles a state of desperation and fear as a virus sweeps across the capital.

Stevie Flint is a journalist-turnedshopping channel TV presenter who turns from a happy young woman to a determined detective when her boyfriend Simon dies, but she is convinced it has nothing to do with the ferocious infection.

Stevie herself does catch ‘The Sweats’ though, and we learn the symptoms and tough recovery period through her. While ill, Stevie also discovers Simon had hidden a laptop in her loft which needs to be delivered to a colleague in hospital. By the time she arrives there though, the virus has too, and Stevie is plunged into a world of medical secrets that people are willing to kill for to protect.

Throughout the novel, Welsh develops a fantastically written mystery which keeps you hanging on to every word. She creates excellent imagery of the struggle Stevie faces, and of the survival skills that kick in when it really is every man for himself.

A must read, which will leave you dreaming — or having nightmares — of apocalyptic London for weeks.