Redder Days by Sue Rainsford

 Redder Days
by Sue Rainsford
A book review

Perhaps it’s because red is the colour of blood, the colour of infection, rashes and inflammations.  Perhaps it’s because it represents danger. Or because it is so often a symbol for passions which some consider too risky, or too dirty, akin to a malady.  The fact is that since Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death, different authors have referenced the colour in the context of pandemic fiction – be it Jack London in The Scarlet Plague or Niccolo Ammaniti in the post-apocalyptic Anna. 

Redder Days by Sue Rainsford taps into this tradition, even while it’s smashing it to smithereens.  Yes, Redder Days is a post-apocalyptic, (post- ) pandemic novel with strong horror undertones, but it’s certainly not your typical run-of-the-mill scary bonanza.   This is immediately clear from Rainsford’s narrative approach, which is purposely challenging to the reader.  She does not provide us with a linear story but, rather, invites us to piece the plot together through short chapters told from different characters’ viewpoints, alternating with journal entries describing the advent of a mysterious pandemic which disrupts normal life.  The journal entries, however, place us in medias res and are quite cryptic, with Rainsford avoiding the short-cut of simply using them to provide us with the context of her tale. The result is that we readers, much like the protagonists of the novel, are often unsure of what exactly is happening. 

So what are the bare bones of the story?  A new malady afflicts both the human and animal world, with symptoms which are shocking and fatal.  A group of survivors decide to set up a remote commune where they can be safe from the pandemic.  They appoint as their leader Koan – a doctor who manages to keep a cool head when everything is falling apart.  Koan “knows things”, he seems to understand the illness better than the others, and he is therefore the natural choice to head the fledgling community.  But Koan is also manipulative and, in the declared interest of protecting his clan, starts to imbue this physical illness with “moral” and “spiritual” implications, essentially changing the community of survivors into a misogynistic cult.  And then, the real horror begins.    

Revealing any further details of the plot would undermine the whole point of the novel, which invites the readers to reach their own understanding about the strange events portrayed.  A word of warning though. Redder Days raises more questions than it answers and is not a book for those who expect the final chapter to tie up all the loose ends. There are also several details in the novel which appear to have a symbolic rather than literal meaning, making the narrative dense but lyrical and  poetic.   This is certainly an unusual and thought-provoking read.   

ebook

Expected publication: March 11th 2021 by Transworld Digital