Product Description

At the age of 26 Steven Johnson has already achieved more than many people manage in a lifetime. He is handsome and intelligent, has a brilliant career, a beautiful home, a luxury car - to the people around him he seems to have everything. But there is one crucial element missing from his world and that is someone to share it all with. Without warning, and in the most unexpected of circumstances, that person appears in the shape of Samantha Hill, and in a single meeting the course of Johnson's life is altered forever.

It is October and the country is basking in the warmth of an unexpected, unseasonal and unprecidented heat-wave. Scientists quickly identify activity on the surface of the sun as the reason for the conditions and for frequent energy pulses - brilliant waves of heat and light which, for a few seconds, are enough to turn night into day. Every new morning brings an increase to the relentless temperature.

In the space of just a few days and weeks Johnson and Samantha become inseparable and for a while at least Johnson feels complete. But then the bitter truth is discovered - the powerful energy pulses are the death throes of the sun. The world is on the brink of destruction.

By the time the news is made public only days remain until the end. Desperate and afraid, Samantha's possessive parents force her to leave the city to travel with them to be with the rest of their family. With his own relatives having already left town and gone north, Johnson is faced with the prospect of spending his last few days and hours alone. His priorities confused by uncertainty and fear, he chases after Samantha.

The energy pulses continue to increase in strength and frequency and it is soon clear that very little time remains. Anarchy reigns supreme as millions of terrified people flee their homes in a hopeless search for safety. Johnson fights his way towards Samantha across a sun-scorched, alien landscape.

With his own family too far away to reach Johnson has no choice but to go on. Distance is no longer an issue. Time is all that matters...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #771724 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 244 pages

About the Author
David Moody is the author of the acclaimed AUTUMN living dead novels. A writer sick of square-jawed, all-American heroes and contrived happy endings, his books are unique and individual. Tried and tested horror and science-fiction themes are twisted and given a fresh perspective by this 34 year old British author. Moody's characters are ordinary people - you, me, the man or woman next door or across the street - forced to survive the most extraordinary of conditions. It is this uneasy mixture of the familiar and bizarre that makes these stories such unsettling and disturbing reads.

Visit the official AUTUMN website theinfected.co.uk for more information.

Customer Reviews

A beautiful tale of love in the face of the end of the world
David Moody's debut novel `Straight To You' was first published by the publishers Book Guild back in 1996. With inspiration harvested from the song of the same name by the legendary group Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, and of course Moody's taste for all things apocalyptic, `Straight To You' formed a definite stepping stone from which Moody was to launch his writing career.

With such a massive difference in approach to that of many of his later novels, `Straight To You' is a carefully written love story, that goes to great lengths to capture the raw feelings of the story's main character Steven Johnson. With the world approaching its final few days, Moody sets down a heart-wrenching tale of uncompromising love. In the face of the end of the world, decisions have to be made of how you will spend your last days. For the novel's principal character Johnson, this time is spent in a desperate attempt to reach his new love. A girl he has only known for a matter of days, but who he will use the last of his days to reach her.

The storyline is not complicated or indeed bursting from the seams with intricate subplots. Quite the opposite, Moody has set down a passionate tale that has one focus from the outset. With such a singular and direct storyline, there is an underlying feeling to the book that gives off a sense of deep emptiness and solitude in the face of extinction. This encapsulates Johnson's final journey well, with such a powerful array of raw emotions that run the course of the story.

As the book draws closer and closer to its final and inevitable conclusion, each of the character's emotions becomes more and more vivid. The sheer desperation of our hero is enough to bring a tear to the eye of the coldest of hearts. His determination, within the final chapters is nothing short of heart-wrenching.

To say that you'll come away from reading this with a great love for Moody's character Steven Johnson is possibly the understatement of the century. With 237 pages in which the reader simply follows Johnson literally to the end of the world, you can not help but feel an overwhelming love for the man as the book draws to an end.

`Straight To You' shows a quality to Moody's writing that is only glimpsed from time to time in his later novels, a quality that is never really taken on board as much as it is here. `Straight To You' shows, if nothing else, that Moody can write a novel that deals with almost nothing else except the concept of the lengths a person will go to for love. His ability to capture the characters emotions and the atmosphere of a dying world is second to none. This is a truly beautiful tale that will leave such fond memories with you for many years to come.