The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch: Review

The Eleventh Plague

By: Jeff Hirsch
Review by: Anna Rose Johnson

I am a huge fan of post-apocalyptic stories; there is always such a feeling of adventure and intrigue mixed with the horror of living a life much different than what we’re used to. The Eleventh Plague gave me some of that intrigue, but not quite enough. We follow Stephen, the main character, through some pretty dramatic life changes, but it felt like we didn’t even scrape the surface of what could have been. There are several points in the book where a new story line could have developed, but it was simply dropped.

A horrible plague has swept the United States, killing the majority of the population in a matter of years. Society crumbles and those surviving scavenge in a nomadic lifestyle or turn to more sinister means to continue existing. The first few chapters of the book show this life—how Stephen, his father and some brief flashbacks of his grandfather, lived from day to day. These chapters were short lived and I wished we could have seen more of that scavenger lifestyle.

Most of the story takes place in a secluded settlement, Settler’s Landing, where the residents act as if nothing has happened, that the world is the same place it was before the eleventh plague. The kids go to school, play baseball and act like normal kids. Stephen is totally out of his element and though we only saw a brief glimpse of the world outside of Settler’s Landing, you feel for him. Conflicting views and over-zealous characters create some intrigue within the town, but again, I felt like there could have been even more. A relationship sprouts between Stephen and outsider, Jenny suddenly and without much explanation. Jenny was a hard character to like, mainly because we don’t find out much about her. I liked Jenny and Stephen together, their personalities meshed well, but again, it seemed like one day she was threatening to blackmail him and the next they were a couple. I like a little romantic angst, and it wasn’t there.

The book did end in a way I wasn’t expecting and twists are always nice, but I really wanted the story to go in a different direction. Honestly, I guess that is my opinion about the entire book. I wish it would have taken different routes and explored more interesting elements. I wanted to know more of Stephen’s back story as a scavenger. I wanted to know more about Stephen’s father and grandfather. I wanted to see Stephen out in the Western wasteland, discovering new places and finding out if life survived outside the United States. I wanted a little deeper read – not the scratched surface of a fantastic idea.


My Rating:


Sexuality: Mild
Drugs/Alcohol: Mild
Profanity: Mild - teenage drinking
Violence: Moderate - expect to see death, its a post-apocalyptic world after all!