Kate Boyes

I got attracted to this book because I am the father of a librarian and know several librarians. I'm glad I picked it up.

Kaylee Bearovna is a young librarian working in the rare books library of a fictional university in Washington State. As she is closing up for the day she hears a lot of commotion outside. Looking out she sees what appear to be invaders chasing people down and killing them by touching them. People are dying horrible deaths right in front of her. She immediately barricades herself in the library and hides. The architecture of the library lends it self to protection, high windows and a thick wooden door. The architect deemed his building rare and wonderful and thus the workers there dubbed it "The RAW".

Kaylee's journal starts on Day 8 after the invasion but she gradually fills in the first few fearful days. She also reflects on the rather hard life she's had before working at the RAW. She knows nothing about what is happening outside her limited view from the windows. She sees an occasional person but they always get killed by an invader. She's afraid but resourceful. She's panicked often but is also a detailed observer.

Gradually things calm down. She gets herself organized (as you might expect a librarian to do). She's got food (from the staff kitchen and other workers' desks) she's got water (the plumbing continues to work for awhile) and electricity (although she doesn't understand why the invaders haven't shut down the water and electric). But winter is coming on and the loss of either will make her existence more precarious than it already is.

She meticulously plans her escape and here her journal ends.

I don't want to give away too much. The journal portion of the book (about half of the book) is very well written and I had a hard time putting it down.

The rest of the book is composed of Appendices, written some 30 years after the invasion by various people involved in rescue and recovery attempts. Kaylee's journal is found which prompts an almost obsessive attempt by one man to find her. Here we learn what happened to Kaylee, who the invaders were, what happened to them, and answers to many of Kaylee's questions (like why the electricity continued to work). I don't think the second half is nearly as good as the first but seems like a good way to give us the rest of the story. It's why I gave the book 4 rather than 5 stars.… (lisätietoja)