AT THE EDGE OF LOST

AT THE EDGE OF LOST by Martha Brockenbrough

I am on the search for new books with boy protagonists which is how I ended up with this book. At The Edge of Lost is an overcoming story (post-COVID ) based on surviving another viral outbreak in a community, but this time it's an avian flu strain that has the potential to run rampant. Told from the alternating views of a boy named Caleb and his dog, Ronan, this book hinges on the age old story of a boy and his dog beating the odds in an attempt to be reunited.

Initially, Caleb and Ronan stay with Caleb's grandfather, Poppy, in a retirement village while Caleb's parents are working for the government out of the country. Caleb loves spending time with his grandfather and things are going great until one morning they notice several dead crows around town.. They're dying from a variant of H5N1 which is spreadable to humans. Poppy contracts the disease and is hospitalized immediately leaving Caleb with no where to live. Only one relative lives close, an estranged great-aunt. Willing to take Caleb in but not Ronan, Ronan is left behind in Poppy's empty house. That's not going to work for a dog as dedicated to his master as Ronan is. Thus, the action of the book is set in motion when Ronan escapes and plunges into the woods where unknown wild animals abound.

Despite the action in the story, I struggled to keep myself going in this book. Still pretty burnt out on anything that resembles COVID, a pandemic, spreadable virus, World Health Organization, masks, etc, I don't think I am a minority in this thought process. Unfortunately, the book covers all of that, and it overshadows everything else going on in the story.

HEADS UP -

-One of Caleb's friends has two dads mentioned in passing.

-There are several references to evolutionary ideas.

-There are remarks about the pandemic when people were drinking bleach and taking horse medicine.