Traveling is often associated with adventure, exploration, and excitement. However, these 3 novels delve into the dnagers that can be found when traversing the open sea, the unpredictable skies above, and the perilous roads.
The Strain, Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan
Y’all know what happened to the passengers on THAT flight? They had a vampire traveling with them and he killed them ALL. No thank you! And that’s not a spoiler, the worse is yet to come in this gruesome novel. And if reading the book isn’t enough for you, check out the TV series.
A Boeing 777 arrives at JFK and is on its way across the tarmac, when it suddenly stops dead. All window shades are pulled down. All lights are out. All communication channels have gone quiet. Crews on the ground are lost for answers, but an alert goes out to the CDC. Dr. Ephraim “Eph” Goodweather, head of their Canary project, a rapid-response team that investigates biological threats, gets the call and boards the plane. What he finds makes his blood run cold.
Fevre Dream, George R.R. Martin
When struggling riverboat captain Abner Marsh receives an offer of partnership from a wealthy aristocrat, he suspects something’s amiss. But when he meets the hauntingly pale, steely-eyed Joshua York, he is certain. For York doesn’t care that the icy winter of 1857 has wiped out all but one of Marsh’s dilapidated fleet. Nor does he care that he won’t earn back his investment in a decade. York has his own reasons for wanting to traverse the powerful Mississippi. And they are to be none of Marsh’s concern—no matter how bizarre, arbitrary, or capricious his actions may prove.
What happens when you travel on a ship with a bunch of vampires on it? Nothing good my friend … nothing good. Fever Dream has themes of friendship, betrayal, and the moral complexities of existence as Marsh and the enigmatic vampire, Joshua York, navigate a world rife with danger for both. And yes, this is the same George R.R. Martin who laterv later wrote A Game of Thrones.
NOS4A2, Joe Hill
Charles Talent Manx has a way with children. He likes to take them for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the NOS4A2 vanity plate. With his old car, he can slip right out of the everyday world, and onto the hidden roads that transport them to an astonishing – and terrifying – playground of amusements he calls “Christmasland.”
I forgive Hill for trying to paint a disturbing picture of my favorite holiday! In NOS4A2, he managed to create a chilling narrative that contrasts the joyous essence of the holiday season with an unnerving undercurrent of dread. Charlie Manx, the villain in this story, shares my love for Christmas, except in his hands, and in his “wanting everyday to be like Christmas”, he made it seem like a bad, bad thing. The car he has, a 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith, makes your dark side come out and amplifies it.
Through the lens of these books, you’ll be left contemplating the delicate balance between the thrill of exploration and the potential dangers that lurk in the unknown. Have you read any books that has disastrous effects for travelers?