Flesh and Blood by Andrew Shanahan

Where to start... After the thrilling ride that Before and After took us on, we were left wondering what have Ben and Brown been up to since The Change?

Flesh and Blood picks up the story several months after the end of Before and After. Ben and Brown have abandoned the farm house to seek somewhere with more resources finally settling on a cargo ship, Our Kid. It's warm and safe, plus it's not far from the Trafford Center ( even in the zombie apocalypse parking is a nightmare). Everything seems good for our intrepid duo except nothing stays good for long.

As we learnt in Before and After, Ben has cancer. He doesn't know what cancer or where it is but it's there and he can feel it draining him. He worries about the future for Brown so sets about making plans for when he's gone. While all this is going on, we meet a new character, Natalie. Her story begins a couple of months before The Change when her life is turned upside down.

Natalie struggles with her own issues leading up to the change and we get to see how she fairs when all hell breaks loose. She must fight to survive in this new world ,both for herself and her unborn babies.

Flesh and Blood really ups the stakes with the tension. As a reader, you are treated to a glimpse of the new world that our characters must survive in and the challenges that they didn't think they'd be facing at the end of the world. Like with Before and After, Andrew has approached the concept of being someone who is dying while the world falls apart with both the humour and gravity of the situation. The constant rollercoaster Ben is on is projected to the reader and you feel all the emotions with him.

I don't think I've read a book series that has gripped me so much from the first page as both Before and After & Flesh and Blood. I would love for their to be another book but I think it would be too sad to carry on with. Ben has been through so much!!