5 apocalyptic books to read for lockdown season

We are living in a very unique time in human history. Last week, we were all just strolling about, the threat of COVID-19 something faraway. Now it is here and the best thing we can do now is follow what our government and leaders say. Right now, Iloilo City is on lockdown. Transportation is prohibited, and only essential stores are open. Residents are encouraged to stay home to prevent the virus from spreading.

For those who are privileged to stay at home at this time, the common problem is boredom. Good thing that electricity and internet connection is still available. However, it can be really tiring and stressful to constantly check the news and social media. Here are some scary books you can read during this waiting season. 

These books are titles I have personally read except the one by Dean Koontz. The themes are plagues and apocalypse. I don't mean to scare you, but reading these books could show us the thin line between fiction and reality. What is happening right now is somewhat similar to what these writers have imagined. 

Here's my list. The links lead to Amazon where you can buy the books via Kindle. The Kindle app is free to download for Android and iOS. 

The Stand by Stephen King

Summary: "One man escapes from a biological weapon facility after an accident, carrying with him the deadly virus known as Captain Tripps, a rapidly mutating flu that - in the ensuing weeks - wipes out most of the world's population. In the aftermath, survivors choose between following an elderly black woman to Boulder or the dark man, Randall Flagg, who has set up his command post in Las Vegas. The two factions prepare for a confrontation between the forces of good and evil."

The Eyes of Darkness by Dean Koontz

Summary: "A year had passed since little Danny's death - A year since his mother began the painful process of acceptance. But Tina Evans could have sworn she just saw her Danny in a stranger's car...Then she dreamed that Danny was alive. And when she awoke, she found a message waiting for her in Danny's bedroom - Two disturbing words scrawled on his chalkboard: NOT DEAD. For Tina Evans, it was a mystery she couldn't escape. An obsession that would lead her from the bright lights of Las Vegas to the cold shadows of the High Sierras."

This book has been talked about lately due to the rumor that it 'predicted' the recent COVID-19 outbreak. However, I believe it is only coincidence. The nature of the disease described in the book is different.

Rant: The Oral Biography of Buster Casey by Chuck Palahniuk

Summary: "Buster “Rant” Casey just may be the most efficient serial killer of our time. A high school rebel, Rant Casey escapes from his small town home for the big city where he becomes the leader of an urban demolition derby called Party Crashing. Rant Casey will die a spectacular highway death, after which his friends gather the testimony needed to build an oral history of his short, violent life. With hilarity, horror, and blazing insight, Rant is a mind-bending vision of the future, as only Chuck Palahniuk could ever imagine."

This book has a pretty complicated plot that involves plagues and infections. I've read it way back in high school and read it again many times. It is an experimental novel that really blew my mind the first time I read it.

The Passage trilogy by Justin Cronin

Summary: "An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, The Passage is the story of Amy—abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Brad Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl and risks everything to save her. As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape—but he can’t stop society’s collapse. And as Amy walks alone, across miles and decades, into a future dark with violence and despair, she is filled with the mysterious and terrifying knowledge that only she has the power to save the ruined world."

The Passage is a post-apocalypse tale, where the remains of humanity live together in walled cities and fight zombie-vampires. I also read it way back in high school, and this page-turner kept me awake for days. It is the first book of a trilogy, followed by The Twelve and City of Mirrors.

World War Z: an oral history of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

Summary: "The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years."

This book is written in a different style, in the form of interviews about a fictional zombie plague.




*If you buy the book through the links in this post, I will earn a small commission via Amazon Affiliates. I am trying out this program for the first time for the blog.