My Review (3 stars out of 5)
Robert Neville believes himself to be the last living man on Earth – except, he’s not alone. It seems that the only other inhabitants of the planet have become blood-hungry vampires. Spending his days hunting and his nights locked into his fortress-like house, Neville carries out experiments, trying to find a cure for the disease that has afflicted everyone else.
So, first of all, this is not ‘a stunning blend of science fiction and horror’. To be fair, the book was written in 1954 and from that point of view alone, it’s pretty groundbreaking in its ideas and in the development of the zombie/vampire genres. However, when compared to something like Shane by Jack Schaefer (admittedly a cowboy novel, but stay with me here), written five years earlier, the quality of the writing and use of language is very different. Unlike Schaefer, Matheson’s writing could do with another edit with a focus on taking out the crap bits. For instance, he has a habit of needlessly repeating the same words and phrases over and over (I’m not talking about using repetition for effect), and while the story does pick up from the half-way point onwards, this is not what I’d call great writing.
At best, it’s an okay read but I won’t be dipping into Matheson’s back catalogue any time soon.
Colin Garrow 