Review: White Horse by Alex Adams

Publisher: Atria
Publishing Date: April 17th, 2012
Genre: Dystopian, Adult
Pages: 292 pgs
ISBN: 9781451642995

Rating: 4 stars

Summary from Goodreads:
Thirty-year-old Zoe leads an ordinary life until the end of the world arrives. She is cleaning cages and floors at Pope Pharmaceuticals when the President of the United States announces that human beings are no longer a viable species. When Zoe realizes that everyone she loves is disappearing, she starts running. Scared and alone in a shockingly changed world, she embarks on a remarkable journey of survival and redemption. Along the way, Zoe comes to see that humans are not defined by their genetic code, but rather by their actions and choices. White Horse offers hope for a broken world, where love can lead to the most unexpected places. 



My Review:
This book is not for the faint of heart and I would definitely not recommend it if you are the least bit squeamish.  The book is about a medical epidemic that pretty much wipes out most of the earth's population.  It is told by Zoe a 30-year-old who is immune to the disease that has killed almost everyone she knows.  The book bounces back and forth between two different points in time: before the epidemic and after the epidemic.  I have to admit that I really enjoy dystopian type books and this one doesn't disappoint.  The book almost combines the elements of a zombie book with the elements of a plague-type apocalyptic book.  Most people die of the strange disease while others turn into something not quite right.  I really enjoyed Adams' writing style and I couldn't put this book down.  I went through a range of emotions while reading this novel and at times I wanted to just yell at some of the characters.  
As one would expect in a post-apocalypse style book, you meet a wide variety of characters and they are not always good.  The German character in this book that Zoe comes across is pure evil and I couldn't figure out why on earth Zoe put up with him for so long.  This book is most definitely not in the realm of YA and it was nice to read something targeted at adults.  It was grim but at the same time it offers some sort of hope in places.  I quite enjoyed the book and I plan on reading more books by Alex Adams.  Overall, I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 
This book was given to me for an honest review from Simon and Schuster Canada.