The Loop by Jeremy Robert Johnson

Book Review

Title: The Loop by Jeremy Robert Johnson

Genre: Thriller, Sci-Fi

Rating: 3.5 Stars

The opening to The Loop was interesting as we are introduced to a podcast debunking myths and false information spread by the media especially surrounding Turner Falls which seems to be the centre of something although we don’t know what. We are also introduced to Lucy who is finishing high school and missing being sat to her best friend, Bucket when something strange happens. A boy in her class seems to have a seizure but he begins spouting crazy things about “them” making him smarter and failing, seeing the truth of things before attacking a classmate. After injuring his classmate he is gunned down by some armed men and I can’t wait to see where this goes.

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After their classmates goes mental and is shot, they learn another one has died in an apparent murder-suicide and another is missing and there seems to be something going on with all of them. Lucy noticed something on the back of the boy’s neck and a friend of the missing boy mentions that he kept rubbing a bandage on the back on his neck and saying some strange things and it all seems to be connected. After the deaths of two local boys, a teacher and another boy has disappeared, Lucy gets invited to a party with Bucket and his friend, Brewer. Lucy decides to go as life with her adoptive parents is becoming suffocating especially since they seem to have forgotten her background in Peru and how she came to be with them. At the party she realises that it is ridiculous that they are partying while there is something strange going on in the town but she decides to throw herself into the party by kissing Brewer and forgetting everything else. I actually really liked Brewer as a character despite being a stoner he was a decent guy and seemed to genuinely like Lucy which is why I wasn’t mad about her kissing Brewer even though she seems to have some unrequited feelings for Bucket who doesn’t seem interested in her at all.

While Lucy and Brewer are heading to another part of the cave system, she has a panic attack because of the enclosed space when Brewer begins to panic as well. Brewer tells her there are a bunch of people on the other side but there is something wrong with them like the others. Lucy begins to get herself out of the cave but not fast enough as Brewer is caught and presumably killed while Lucy manages to slip away and find Bucket saving his life from these strange people. She and Bucket head towards Lucy’s home but everything seems to be going to hell and she finds her adoptive parents in a trance like state reciting the emergency broadcast and she knows she can’t help them right now but she is going to stop the people doing this. From the podcast inserts we know the people responsible are most likely the company IMTECH responsible for the second skin implants which I bet everyone whose been affected has. Bucket and Lucy decide to check on his family next but not before they get some weapons for themselves for what is to come. However, Brewer turns up alive with one of the infected boys who apparently saved his life in the caves so they head out together but the one boy is badly injured. They soon realise on the way to Bucket’s that they are being hunted and the military or a military force is preventing them from leaving the town so they have no choice but to return. Brewer and his friend had a stupid plan for a zombie apocalypse or other natural disaster and they decide to follow it as they don’t have a better idea now.

At the halfway point in the novel, I was invested in the characters especially Lucy and Brewer but I wish we knew more about what is turning the kids into homicidal psychos but I am hoping that will come soon. Things don’t get easier for the group as they are hunted down and their car is dying so they are running out of time to find somewhere they can build a defence and fight back. The other kids also now have access to high power weapons which their knives and wrench can’t go up against so they need to deal with that as soon as possible. After wrecking the car, the gang are rescued by Toni and some others from the bar they were heading to but Bucket is badly injured. By the time Lucy comes around Bucket is barely clinging on and she has to hold him as he dies in her arms. They are also keeping an eye on two of the affected children and one of the men there actually worked for IMTECH and explains what the Oracle implant is and what it is designed to do but it is clear that someone has tampered with it in order to make it into a weapon that allows them to trigger regular children into becoming violent super soldiers.

Everyone learns through Marisol how the infection spreads through them and creates a hive mind but the infection itself also seems to have a mind of its own and disposes of Marisol when she is no longer of use. After Marisol’s death, the other infected turn up and the gang have to move quickly or be killed and they are saved by a reporter from the Nightwatch but they quickly learn that Toni is infected and it seems to progress through her quicker than the others. Due to this they have to kill Toni and the Nightwatch guy as he has a spinal injury they can’t treat and they refuse to leave him for the infected. This now leaves a small group of non-infected including Brewer and Lucy but it seems there is no way out of the town and they can only dodge the infected for so long before their resources and energy run out so I am not sure what is going to happen in the final section of the novel but I am excited to find out. It is going to be interesting to see whether Johnson gives the novel a happy ending by the characters finding a way out of their situation or an unhappy ending by making them infected or dead by the end of the novel.

The final section of the novel was interesting as Lucy and Brewer are the only ones left standing against an enemy they can’t fight but they find a way to fight it but in doing so they have to sacrifice their own lives in the progress and Lucy has to sacrifice more of herself in order to fight the Oracle to get the message through to nuke the town. Seeing Lucy and Brewer together at the end and Lucy finally admitting her feelings for him as they die together was heart-breaking and beautiful. I have heard many people had issues with the book especially the ending but I felt it was appropriate given the tone of the novel throughout and it brings the characters a lot of development. For Lucy she finally opens up the parts of herself she has kept hidden for a long time even if it is to the Oracle in order to overwhelm it and Brewer changes from the typical stoner character to a brave and dedicated young man willing to die to save others. Overall, The Loop was an interesting read that made me question what I would do in the same situation and it was entertaining despite the fact it doesn’t do anything new. As a novel it was pretty average but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t enjoyable or entertaining as it really was.

Buy it here:

Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com

Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com