Title: Hard Road (Dark Plague #2)
Author: Bradley West
Published on: 25 August 2021
Genre: Mystery and Thrillers
Hard Road is the second book in Bradley West‘s Dark Plague series.
Covid19 has mutated to something deadlier and people are calling it Covid20. If infected, the survival rate is almost nil. An infected person dies within 9hours of contracting the deadly disease. Covid20 has already wiped out half the population on earth and the survivors are struggling to keep themselves safe. Sal Maggio, a businessman and researcher, was in the process of making a cure for Covid20. Burns, Maggio’s former boss heard of the vaccine Sal injected his Covid20 daughter Steph and decided to steal the cure for himself. When this plan went sideways, Burns and a rogue operator named Muller kidnapped Steph and her days-old newborn baby Tyson. They collaborated with a scientist named Katerina and started drawing blood from the Covid20-free mother and baby. Sal managed to save his daughter and grandson just in time.
Hard Road is the continuation of the first book – Dark Cure. The first book ended with Sal and the gang saving Steph and Tyson. They also started their journey to Canada where Sal had planned to start a new life alongside his family and friends. The group is called 3M – manned mission to Mars and their final destination in Canada is called Thunderdome.
The first half of the book is all about the journey. The group are on their way to British Columbia but there are road bumps everywhere – survivors stop them, threaten to injure or kill them and the only way out of this is to provide them with the cure. Carla, Sal’s niece and a researcher manages to create the cure (Covid20 vaccine) in 36hours, thus saving as many people as they can. But the stock is slowing depleting. Meanwhile, Steph finds Tyson is not as responsive as he was before. Steph saved the goons from putting a bullet into Tyson and in the process, Tyson might have suffered a brain injury. Steph and Greg (her husband) decide to go to Las Vegas and find a children’s specialist for their baby. Sal and the rest of the gang continue their journey to BC.
Burns was infected with Covid20 and was badly wounded in the cross fire. He was left to die but he manages to survive. Muller, Burns and Katerina plan to steal the cure from Sal and sell it on the black market. Off they go in search of Sal and his extended family.
The second half is where all the action lies. Muller and Sal come face-to-face. There’s a lot of blood shed and violence. Both sides take heavy fire and as the story ends, we see some of the recurring characters (from book #1) breathe their last.
I really cannot talk much about the story without making this review a spoiler. I loved the first book in the series – I read it before the Covid19 mutations ( in real life) created havoc worldwide. The Dark Plague Trilogy is based on COvid19 mutating to something deadlier – is it a coincidence that we witnessed something similar in reality?
Hard Road by Bradley West is a gripping and completely engrossing thriller. I was hooked on to the story and could not put it down until the end. The third book in this series will be released sometime in 2022 and I cannot wait to see what’s next for the team – after all, we had some shocking developments and conclusions in this book.
If you are looking for a riveting read to keep you on the edge of your seats, you might want to give the Dark Plague trilogy a try. Remember, you will have to read the books in order to understand the story.
The Book Decoder 
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