The Only Safe Place Left is the Dark
Warren Wagner
Ghoulish Books, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-943720-86-6
Ebook, 100 ppg.
Imagine a world where being HIV-positive is a blessing, not a curse. That’s how it is for Quinton and Billy, two HIV-positive gay men who fight zombies. In The Only Safe Place Left is the Dark by Warren Wagner, the world has gone to the dumps after a zombie plague sets in. Most people are either dead or zombies, while other people still alive are either monsters or survivors. That’s the world we have set up for us in this novella, and it’s a world where readers will constantly asking themselves: Who will live in the end?
The first chapter’s ending REALLY made me angry. I was so angry by what happened that I almost didn’t finish reading the rest of the book. But I did, only out of curiosity. But because the story was so good and awesome things happened, I kept reading!
This book is amazing. I loved it! I was especially surprised to learn that this was the author’s debut novella. It is so well-written! Yes, it’s a story of survival and how the world changed, and people changed, after the zombie apocalypse happened, but it’s also a story about love, friendship, loss, loyalty and compassion. That’s a lot to deliver coming from a horror novel, but those themes are indeed in the story, which really made it stand out.
Both Quinton and Billy have lost their partners, and I appreciated how we got to learn more about the man who Billy loved at some point in the story. Readers do get to know about Quinton’s lost partner, Frankie, through flashbacks and dreams in the story, but we also learn more about Billy’s late partner. This was a touching scene to read.
All of the things these two men go through are really frightening, but it brings them together. They survive so much, it’s not surprising that it’s hard to keep them apart. They got each other’s back. They have saved each other’s lives. It creates a bond for them which changes both their lives.
The title had me wondering if the “dark” represented something more than just darkness, as in, staying in the cover of darkness. If you stayed in the cover of darkness, the enemy cannot see you. In Quinton and Billy’s case, the enemy could be a batch of sorts: Zombies, homophobes, religious freaks out to “cleanse” the world (read: kill people) in God’s light, doing so by eliminating the weak and sinful.
Sure, that’s no way to live. Always in the dark. Always running, hiding and trying to survive. But that’s the world these two men are thrown into. As Quinton realizes at one point, “They lived for those they lost. Until they could live for themselves again.” (Pg. 83)
The Only Safe Place Left is the Dark is an unusual zombie apocalypse story of two gay men fighting for their lives and trying to survive a worst thing than being HIV-positive. Once I got past the horrors of the first chapter, it became a story that was hard for me to put down. It’s a story that brought new insights to my mind and made me think about just how far a person can go in trying to hold on to what kind of life they have left to live after losing everything and everyone in a chaotic world. Hopefully, some good can still be found in it.
Five stars
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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