The Sacrifice (The Enemy) - Tapa dura

4Q 5P This suspenseful, longed-for, fourth novel of the Enemy series takes the reader into the heart of London where the kids must now venture out to find family or replenish their food and water in order to survive. The disaster last year created a sickness which either wiped out everyone over the age of fourteen or turned them into diseased zombies with an insatiable hunger for children. Courageous, small Sam and his creative, funny, bright, somewhat mad sidekick, the Kid, manage to arrive safely at the tower, but barely take the time to rest before setting off to Buckingham Palace to find Sam's sister. Ed, the warrior, leads forays into the no-go zone to rescue little Sam and the Kid, but he and his team encounter terror, danger, and vile bloodbaths. Across London, organized camps of kids have set up and attempted to impose order via rules or religion, oftentimes with dictators. Meanwhile, Shadowman tries to convince the kids he meets that the dreadful zombies have begun to congregate and build their forces. Death, religion, friendship, survival, power, politics, and fear are explored throughout this installment. The storylines run full speed ahead in this horrifying page-turner. The solid writing is, at times, brilliant, such as the Kid's description of music. The unanswered questions will prime readers for the next in the series. This popular, dark dystopian tale with its combination of adventure, horror and suspense will appeal to many at both public and school libraries.-Ava Ehde VOYA"

This fourth, and apparently not final, book in The Enemy series finds yet more reasons to send members from various kid strongholds out into the "no-go zone," where the drooling, ravenous "sickos" seem to be developing a new kind of telepathic intelligence. But nine-year-old Sam is determined to join his sister in Buckingham Palace, so he takes to the lethal streets with two friends in tow, only to run across Higson's most unnerving character, religious nut Mad Matt, who believes that Sam is "the Lamb" that will lead the world from darkness. There's not much to differentiate teen leader Ed's subsequent rescue operation from similar sequences in previous volumes, and one is tempted to say the series is starting to generate diminishing returns. But the introduction of an intelligent sicko named Wormwood is a thrilling game-changer, and Higson once again impresses by largely avoiding sentimentality and romance to focus more realistically upon the "pulped, scabby, pus-oozing" threat. Onward we fight! - Daniel Kraus Booklist"

The Sacrifice picks up after Small Sam and The Kid arrive at the Tower of London at the end of The Dead. Though Sam finds safety and friendship at the Tower with Jordan Hordern's crew, he can't settle down. The only thing he wants is to be reunited with his sister, Ella. Despite Ed's protests, Sam and the Kid strike out westward, through the no-go zone.
Meanwhile, Shadowman is tracking Saint George across north London, watching him build up his army. Shadowman knows that Saint George is an extremely dangerous threat, but no one will take his warnings seriously.
Some answers to the questions we've been wondering about--What is the Disease? Where did it come from? Is there a cure?--are addressed by an unexpected source: a diseased adult nicknamed Wormwood who has the ability to speak, though his ravings are difficult to decipher.
Unspeakable horror, edge-of-the-seat suspense, and stomach-churning plot twists continue in Book 4 of Charlie Higson's masterful Enemy saga.