Fever

I have read a few of Jacqueline Druga's books. And, based on what I've sampled, this is one of her best efforts to date. Great character development. None of the typical hardy band of survivors gears up to take down the local warlord kind of thing. It's more of the thinking, emotions, and relationships that develop as things deteriorate. It's dark, yet the ending is optimistic and seems like a natural progression of the story line.My only complaint: please, oh please, get a copy editor. The spelling and grammatical errors were just frequent enough to be irritating. It's the copy errors that prompted my four-star rating. Otherwise, we'd have a five-star book here.

I love all of the Jacqueline Druga books I've ever read, probably about twenty so far. However, this was by far my favorite one. I don't write a lot of reviews, too lazy, but I felt I had to review Fever. It was that good. I have a fondness for apocalyptic fiction, and even more so for the viral/disease scenarios. So what made this story so great? For one, it was a middle aged mom's perspective, not your typical single male, soldier type action hero. Second of all, I cried reading Fever. I don't cry reading books. I know they are just books. I don't know the people or characters. But I cried not once, but three times, reading Fever. Ms. Druga did that well making the characters seem real, like my own friends and family. This is one book I really hope she writes a sequel to. The ending was appropriate as it was, but she left it that there could possibly be a sequel. The stadium scene and also the few survivors, are reminiscent of another of her stories. Unfortunately, I can't remember the title of which one at this time. I don't want to give any spoilers, so I will leave this review alone now. Hopefully the author will read this, and see how much I enjoyed Fever, and hopefully prospective customers read this and buy the book. It is worth it.

I met the author in early 2004 at the writer's circle she'd begun at our local library. Jacqui is one of the most imaginative, prolific writers I've ever had the honor to meet - or even just read, for that matter. Ms. Druga has more ideas floating around her vivid imagination than I have in my vast library of books - some 50 years strong and still growing. She writes what she knows and tells the tale with the skill to keep you on the edge of your seat until you reach the end, disappointed only that there isn't more left between the covers for you to covetously lap down!If there is a flaw in Ms. Druga's writing, it is the constant that has been there as long as I have known her. Her attention to proper grammar and punctuation is atrocious, and takes away from what are otherwise marvelously conceived and written stories. My three stars would be easily be five stars but for that wee attention detail.

I loved the story. I did. But...please get a proof reader. The countless mistakes and run together sentences were a total distraction for me. I didn't expect to have to rewrite the whole story while I was reading it but that's pretty much what I did. What a shame.

This is my third Jacqueline Druga book and I am always left feeling completely heartbroken, but Fever took smashing my heart to pieces to a whole new level.I absolutely love Jacqueline Druga's novels. I read Under the Gray Skies at the beginning of this year and fell in love with her writing style. I went on to read Contagion and again, loved it. I've been wanting to read more of her books and when my mom finished this one and told me I had to read it I picked it up right away and I wasn't disappointed.Fever is told from the perspective of a woman named Clare. Her husband died a few years before the novel begins from cancer and now her and her three children are living with her father. They've done good, they all have a great relationships, she has friends and two jobs. Life isn't perfect, far from it, but Clare is happy living in her small town. But then she starts seeing reports about a virus outbreak and how it's not only killing the animals, but humans and it's fast. She can only hope it won't reach her small town, but when it does there isn't much she can do except wait for it to blow over.The story flowed really well and I loved seeing the virus slowly breakout everywhere else, all the reports, before everyone decides to believe what is really going on and stay in their houses, but by that time it's too late. This virus works fast and is a lot like the Spanish Flu. I thought the author did an amazing job on constructing this virus, the way it was carried and spread, and how it acted. You can tell she did a ton of research and it really payed off. While I was reading this book it made me afraid to leave the house and for the time when I was reading it I almost forgot it was a book and that none of it was real. It was terrifying and realistic.She also did an amazing job on the characters. I loved Clare so much . She was so flawed and scarred from her husband's death, but she still got through everyday and went to her job and spent time with her family and just tried to be happy. I loved the relationship she had with her family and the love she had for her children. I think that's what I've really enjoyed about Jacqueline's books is that she really makes it about family and how they really need to stick together during hard times and she did a wonderful job in this book. I really felt Clare's pain and love and heartbreak in every moment of this book and just how much she wanted to protect her family.There were also other characters I just fell in love with and was heartbroken when I had to say goodbye. Clare's father was at the top of that list. He reminded me a lot of my granddad and how he's really helped us during hard times. Her father was logical and the voice of reason when things became hard and when Clare was feeling completely unreasonable. He helped her get through a lot and I just loved their relationship and how they helped each other.It was also really cool to get to know Clare's children and I loved their characters a lot. Michael, her oldest was smart and helpful and seemed a lot older than he really was. Eli, her second child, kind of reminded me of my brother, goofy and a little bit head-strong, but still super sweet and always there for his mom and siblings. And then Ivy, her youngest. She was so sweet and it was really cute how much she loved her grandfather.And then of course there were other characters I loved from the beginning and added so much to the story and even though they were secondary characters and they weren't telling the story it still felt like I really knew them because Clare did and I thought that was pretty cool. Sometimes I think when authors put their secondary characters in there they can seem pretty one dimensional, it wasn't this way with Fever and I was really pleased with this.I could go on forever talking about this book and the author's writing style, but then this would be a reddiculously long review and no one would ever be able to get through it. So, I guess I'll just start wrapping things up.I would rate this 15-16+. It is an adult novel, I do think younger people would enjoy, but there was some pretty upsetting things that happened and might really upset younger ones. There wasn't any violence, but this virus is brutal and causes a lot of suffering.Animals are the main cause of the virus to spread and it's really sad what happens to them. At one point a dog gets shot because it's really sick and while we don't see it happen, they do here the gunshot. Animals dying and having to be given up to authorities is talked about quite a bit, especially at the beginning and it can be pretty upsetting to think about. I would even get teary at the thought of having to give up my animals and know they would probably be put down. It's realistic, but still sad to read about. There's also a scene where someone opens a door leading to stairs and a dog comes tumbling down and it dead by the time it hits the bottom.There is a lot of death and it's talked about seeing bodies lying in the street or seeing people stumbling around deathly sick because they are trying to find help. Many character we get to know get sick and die and the deaths are quick, but they are heartbreaking. At one point a really young child gets sick and dies and it's the most heartbreaking, upsetting thing I've ever read. I don't think I've ever cried this hard for any book because it's such a realistic death and brings so much heartache. Just be prepared for a lot of tears.There is no sex in this or even talk of sex. There is quite a bit of cussing though, especially the f word, but it calms down quite a bit towards the end.As always, I hope you enjoyed this review and it was helpful. Thanks for reading.

I enjoyed reading this book. I have read most of Jackie Druga's books. If there were book two I would buy it. Did not hold my attention like some of her books do, I could easily put it down. I kept thinking they would leave the town and start an adventure after the town was dead. I just kept waiting for more adventure that did not happen. Probably will start in book 2. I will continue reading this author's books.