I always enjoy it when a author tries something new, and Pete Hautman is always coming up with something different. He’s written realistic and fantasy-type stuff, and also novels for adults. And now a first-rate science fiction about the end of the world as we know it. In 2028, a huge flu hits the world and wipes out most of human-kind. There’s only two types of people left–those who were never exposed to the virus, and those few that lived through it, called Survivors. You can tell Survivors apart from others, because the flu leaves them all completely hairless and missing some vital human ability–their eyesight, hearing, or not being able to read or understand language anymore. This story is told by four teens who live on the edge of the Grand Canyon–Ceej and Tim, who are best friends, Harryette, Ceej’s sister and also a Survivor, and Isabella, a Hopi Indian who tries to lead them all to a mythical “hole” somewhere in the Canyon that will take them to another world where there is no flu. While they’re searching, they’re being pursued by the Kinkas, a nasty group of Survivors who think it’s their job to expose anyone they meet to the flu virus, so that only “pure” Survivors are left on the planet. A whole bunch of other stuff happens as well, but I hope I’ve hyped enough of Hole in the Sky to wet your whistle for some seriously good post-apocalyptic fiction!
