THE SILENCE by Tim Lebbon
Published in the UK on 17th April 2015
Available from The Book Depository
When a cave expedition in Moldova led by scientists and screened live on the Discovery channel ends up going horribly wrong, unleashing hordes of flesh-eating winged creatures unidentified to man, the whole of the world is sent into panic. Rapidly spreading and breeding, the carnivorous creatures are attacking everything living thing, from bird to human. Watching the violence unfold in Eastern Europe via news channels, the British public look are urged by the Prime Minister to stay indoors in case the swarm reaches the UK’s shores but is that such a good idea? Ally, a 14 year old deaf girl, and her family aren’t so sure and set off on a quest of survival where the horrors they will face won’t just be the winged creature variety.
The Silence is a mature teen survival horror-thriller from author Tim Lebbon that focuses on one family’s fight for survival in a world that has been turned upside down over night. Lebbon explores the changes and impact the release of the carnivorous winged beasties, referred to as vesps, have had upon the Earth, from both a personal and onlooker’s point-of-view. Lebbon does this by including Twitter posts, blog quotes and social media entries at the beginning of each chapter, to help set the scene and give the reader a feel for the current state of crisis. The story and panic slowly unfolds across the pages as the characters learn more and more of the evil unleashed overseas. It all feels rather realistic and believable how the events unfold with very little information initially being drip-fed to the British residents, with news broadcasters still wondering, like every other person, whether this is all fake, a clever promotional stunt for a movie. It soon becomes apparent that it’s no such thing, and that the nightmare is frighteningly real.
From opening the first page, The Silence was an easy book to get into. Written in an informal style with a modern touch and splash of casual swearing, the narrative is presented in a personal way through the character of Ally in first person and her father Huw in third person. They each give their take on the events and, as a reader, you can really feel the family bond between them all as they work as a team to plan their survival in the ghastly future where they could be devoured to pieces at any given moment.
Tim Lebbon spends a lot of time developing his characters and giving them a backstory so the reader can invest in them more as just protagonists of the novel. The two main characters are 14 year old Ally and her father Huw. After an accident that left her deaf and her grandparents dead, Huw has been very protective of his daughter, a clever teenager who’s disability hasn’t stopped her from living life to the fullest. Joining Huw and Ally are Kelly, Ally’s mother and wife to Huw, their mischievous 10 year old son, Jude, and Kelly’s mother, Lynne, who’s been living with the family since the death of her husband. They must work together as a team if they are to survive the potential threat of the vesps.
For horror fans, the vesp creatures which are unleashed into the modern age are the perfect villain of the piece, but as we well know, when society disintegrates, everyone around you becomes a potential enemy as the fight for food, water, clothing and warmth begins. The story is quite scary in parts, but not in the blood-thirsty sense. Whilst the vesps have sharp teeth which can easily tear their prey apart, author Tim Lebbon doesn’t go into grisly detail about it, instead focusing on the horrors of reality. In that respect, horror fans may be a little disappointed, but for those who enjoy survival thrillers, there’s plenty here to enjoy.
As a whole, The Silence is a pretty entertaining book though it struggles in the final third with an ending that left me rather unsatisfied. The characters are well-developed but the focus on the character of Ally and her deafness started to become annoying, as well as her obsession with her iPad. If I found myself in her position, the last thing I’d be bothered about is the internet and iPad, but her character seems more bothered about the internet going down and her iPad losing charge than the safety of her family and her own survival. Maybe it’s because of my loathing on people’s dependency on technology, but I would have thought it more important to employ practical skills to find a way out and not waste time on seeing what Twitter has to say about the current vesp infestation.
Overall, whilst an interesting read, I found the book a little immature and tame for my tastes so I would probably advise this read for ages 16+ due to the brief sexual references and profanities, and for people who prefer survival horror, a la The Walking Dead, rather than blood-thirsty horror.
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