The Eleventh Plague
By Jeff Hirsch
Setting
The Eleventh Plague takes place in a nuclear wasteland called America in the near future. After America becomes scared, they launch nukes at China, and China responds with a Chemical bomb. China calls this bomb P11, or Plague 11. This Plague is dropped in Georgia and spreads like wildfire until everyone who has it is dead. The time period in which the plague is slowly killing everyone is called the Collapse. During that time period, people start going crazy. They start boarding up windows, and lose trust in anyone except the people they went into this time period with. This story takes place after the Collapse where people aren't as crazy, but still cannot trust anyone.
Summary
The Eleventh Plague is about a young boy named Stephen, or Steve by his dad, who struggles to survive in a wasteland of America. Steve and his Dad salvage anything they can to eat or anything they can trade. One day, they find people who they believed to be Slavers, but were trying to be friendly. Steve and his dad started firing until Steve's dad fell into a ravine and broke his head, leaving him unconscious. The men brought Steve and his Dad to their little town they made, where they found out Steve's dad was in a coma. Steve refused to survive without his dad. Steve stayed in the village, and fell head over heels for a girl named Jenny. The two of them cause a lot of trouble in the village, almost getting shot at more than a few times. Steve plans to leave the village with his dad when he wakes up, but Jenny tries to convince Steve to let her come with, and eventually Steve gives in. All that Jenny and Steve can do is wait.
Steve
Steve is a mature adult due to the world he lives in. Steve acts like a man when he survives, making important decisions and surviving on his own so that his father does not have to worry about him. Since Steve has had to act like a man in his life and mature at a young age, he never got to be a kid. Steve tries to make up for his young life in the village by playing baseball and running around and messing with adults. He does so with Jenny, creating a strong bond between the both of them. Although Steve is very mature for his age, he likes to mess around when he can.
Steve vs Tom
Steve from the novel The Eleventh Plague shares many traits with Thomas Sawyer from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. Both Tom and Steve have strong love interests throughout their books and both of them love to mess with adults. Steve and Tom are also salvagers, and don't care how they look or smell. Although they share many traits, they are also very different. Tom is trying to become less civilized, wants to fear being killed and live an adventurous life, while Stephen want to have friends, not worry about others trying to kill him, and live a normal life. The two share many traits, but are still different in their own ways.
About Jeff Hirsch
Jeff is originally from the suburbs of Richmond VA, and currently lives a small town in New York. Jeff got into writing in 7th grade when a teacher told him he was good at it, and has been writing ever since. Jeff lived a normal life of a writer. Also, Jeff knows how to escape from a straitjacket while suspended from the ceiling by his ankles as well as he can eat fire, walk on broken glass, and hammer a nail all the way into his nose.
Other books by Jeff Hirsch
Why should I read this book?
If you are still on the verge of deciding to read this book, this might help. The Eleventh Plague is an action packed survival thriller that will leave you on the edge of your seat after every single chapter. The survival aspect of the book builds up many suspenseful moments while Steve and his dad wonder around, getting into gunfights. If you are not fond of the actions part of this book, there is a fair amount of romance between Steve and Jenny. There is enough romance in this book to call it an action and drama book. This book really is the best of both worlds, making it a great book to read.