NB: The bulk of this post was written well before the 2020 pandemic.
The White Plague, a book that never fails to garner an interesting reaction whenever it comes up in SFF circles. A good friend and fellow SFF/horror fen once told me that being able to get all the way through the book I’m reviewing today made me a better fen than him (which is complete BS – fen are fen are fen) Another person at a Dragon*Con panel I attended mentioned that anyone who could read all the way through this novel deserved a medal or possibly several stiff drinks (which okay fair). Having read all the way through this novel, I can see what would provoked those comments even if I strongly disagree with the former. This is not a novel for the faint of heart or anyone with an overactive imagination. I have no idea how I made it all the way through without terrifying nightmares. I’ve spoken with longtime horror readers who couldn’t finish this book. And I don’t blame them. This book by Frank Herbert (yes, that Frank Herbert ) is arguably one of his most chilling and disturbing works.
The Dune saga will blow your mind and then restructure it, as will Whipping Star and its sequel, The Dosadi Experiment. Herbert doesn’t write “nice” stories, and when there are tender or nice-seeming parts, that’s when a careful reader starts looking for the hidden gom-jabber or poison ring. However, The White Plague is in a league of its own when it comes to just outright terrifying fiction. The plot is rather beautiful in the simplicity of it. A man suffers a terrible tragedy and resolves to get revenge on those responsible. We’ve seen this plot replicated over countless movies, shows, comics, books…the devil, as they say, is in the details. That is where Herbert takes us. The revenge arc unfolds before your eyes from start to finish. You are witness to both the immediate and long term repercussions of what the main character O’Neill has set into motion, out of a rage born from overwhelming grief. Over the course of the novel, you see how that knowledge, the sure and uncompromising knowledge of exactly what he’s done takes its toll on him mentally, physically, and emotionally.
The way that the governments of the world react to such a event happening. How they handle the various responses to O’Neill’s initial demands and then as they realize the long term consequences that the plague will have…it’s breathtaking the way it all comes out. Herbert is a master at combining the political, mental, and communal drama in his exploration of how such a thing would change the face of the world as we know it.
The chilling part of this novel, the part that often makes people find it hard to continue through with it is that the novel itself is very blunt and realistic. Herbert doesn’t pull any punches, doesn’t attempt to soften any of the blows with mysticism or philosophy. It reads less like a novel and more like a non-fiction piece describing the horrific tragedy that happened.
With the starkness of the writing and the events that unfold, Herbert plays into the sense that the events that happen in this novel are not only realistic, but plausible. There are no fantastical elements, no aliens, no spice, just a human being using modern science to inflict an horrific plague on the earth.
That’s the horrifying chilling element. That’s what stops readers cold. The fact that these events are not only realistic, but plausible. The events that occur in the novel could conceivably and believably happen tomorrow.
And that is a revelation that can and will shake you down to your core. It’s one thing to read a novel that scares you, it’s another thing to realize that the novel that scared you could actually happen in real life.
It’s a fantastic read (but maybe wait to read it until 2021, okay?).