You've likely already seen one or more adaptations of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel: The Last Man on Earth (Vincent Price, 1964), The Omega Man (Charlton Heston, 1971), or I Am Legend (Will Smith, 2007). This short novel however is still very much worth the read, if only for its influence on the zombie and post-apocalyptic genres.
Set in the late 1970s following a short WWIII that the U.S. "won" (for an exceedingly poor value of "won"), Robert Neville is a sort of everyman protagonist stuck in an impossible situation: he – and he alone – is somewhat mysteriously immune to the zombie-vampire bacterium that has brought down civilization. (A zombie-vampire? Yes, this symbiotic bacterial infection causes its victims to have some of the features of each: mindless shambling combined with a vicious thirst for blood, fear of sunlight, etc.) Where did this new hell come from? It's not clear, but it was probably a last-ditch bioweapon used by one side or the other that got loose in the aftermath. Anyway, Neville has lost his wife and daughter, and everyone else too. Each night he has to barricade himself in his home while the monsters cavort and rage through the streets and attack his house. Each day he goes through the motions to salvage whatever he needs to stay alive. However, without any hope, how can he keep his mind and sanity alive? Then hope arrives in a most unexpected form. But is it the hope he wanted?
OK, no more or we'd be getting into spoilers. If you read it, you'll just have to power through the first third of the book. (It took me two tries, but I'm glad that I did.) It's grim and gray and seems kind of pointless, but it's all about setting the mood for what comes later. If the twist and the ending seem like something out of a Twilight Zone plot, just know that Matheson went on to write 16 episodes of that TV series.
Recommended, but only if this sounds like your cup of coffee.
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