One Shot

Rex has been locked in his cellar for a month. One month, while the world fell apart outside because of a secret project that his girlfriend had been working on, a project to create a virus that could make the targeted creature “eliminate” itself. After that virus was released into Australia’s water supply, people quickly became Turned, zombies of a sort, and soon, almost everyone was gone. And now that Kerrie has killed herself, all Rex has left in the world is Soldier, his beloved dog. With no food left and no drinkable water, because not even boiling can destroy the virus, Rex hits the road, doing his best to prolong the inevitable end. It seems that the end of the known world really does bring out the worst in people, and Rex finds himself both doing unimaginable things and avoiding being killed by others, knowing all the while that he could have tried to stop this. As Rex encounters the last dregs of humanity, he simultaneously searches for answers in his past, wishing fervently that there was some way to change the present. Did he really only have one shot?

Tom Conyers has written a fantastic, deep-thinking novel with One Shot. It explores not only a dystopian future, complete with rabid zombies and horrible humans who think only about themselves, but also parallel universes and the concept of an afterlife. It is extremely well-written, and, while each chapter is prolonged, the story is so fascinating that readers won’t even notice. Rex is a fascinating character, struggling with his perceived guilt over the situation while evolving into someone who takes responsibility for both himself and others in his care; his obsession with having a “humane” way to end things is one of the major driving points of the story. The ending is brilliant, making One Shot a novel that will keep your brain spinning long after you’ve read the last page.