The Eleventh Plague
Written by Jeff Hirsch
Scholastic
Hardcover | Paperback | Kindle Edition
Release Date: September 1, 2012

I began reading Jeff Hirsch‘s debut novel with no small amount of trepidation as it is intended for Young Adults and I’m a not so young adult. Living in a place with a conservative political climate and a seemingly permanent spot on the “Top 10 Unemployed States in America” list also tends to make an endless parade of dystopian survival stories set in the near future seem a tad redundant. However, I was encouraged by the cover blurb from Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games, which says: “The Eleventh Plague hits disturbingly close to home…An excellent, taut debut novel.” If I am being truthful, thus far I have only seen the film The Hunger Games, but I was impressed and view it as a sort of sensitive person’s bigger budget version of Battle Royale (which I love) with great costumes. Luckily, The Eleventh Plague more than lives up to her praise.

Biological warfare has wiped out two-thirds of the American population decades earlier, and as a result society has collapsed. Fifteen-year-old Stephen Quinn is only vaguely aware of a country ruled by a government, with running water and hospitals from the wistful stories passed down by those old enough to remember one. Opening the novel, he and his Dad are burying his grandfather together, with an unpredictable future ahead of them as “scavengers.” They have always lived a nomadic lifestyle scouring the desolate landscape for discarded items to sell/trade for survival under the stern guidance of an ex-Marine grandfather to keep them alive. Up until now, their family goals included eating, finding shelter against the elements, and avoiding others to stay out of trouble. But with the grandfather gone, they begin to wonder if there is more to life than surviving like baser animals.