THE TRESPASSERS | MEG MUNDELL | 2019

This book really hits home on a number of disquieting issues: rampant viruses, PPE scarcity, asylum seekers, migrant labour, and the greed of individuals and immoral conglomerates surrounding these issues. Do we really know how the current pandemic is going to eventuate? And did the author have a prescient understanding of what was to happen in 2020?

Set in a dystopian 2034 (not that far away really) it starts in virus-riddled England where a group of healthy UK citizens has volunteered to be sent by ship to a virus-free Australia to work. The premise for the book is exciting, how it is realised left me feeling a little short-changed.

So they’re on the ship, Cleary a vulnerable nine year old recently deaf boy, Billie a former pandemic nurses-aide with a secret, and Tom a teacher. The story revolves around the three strangers. Cleary and Billie, written in the third person, build a believable friendship whereas the author has used an interesting device with Tom’s storyline in the first person. I couldn’t figure out why this was so, and it didn’t make any difference to the plot other than to have a first-hand account of how the virus rages, debilitates and kills.

Cleary is a witness and therein lies the tale that drives the plot. Thereafter, passengers start getting sick. Is it the virus? Is it sabotage? Can they turn back?

It’s a slow start, nothing much seems to happen until the sickness outbreak. Then it speeds up and this part is confronting and a good read. However, it goes on too long, I felt I was waiting for something to else to happen  to drive the story, but found it was stagnating on and off through lengthy passages over similar territory. It speeds up once they reach Australia and then towards the end it slows down considerably. I got the feeling the author didn’t know quite how to end it, which was a letdown. However, I didn’t see the ramifications of the villain’s connection coming, and for that I was grateful.

Apparently The Trespassers is being made into a film, perhaps for television. I wonder if a greater understanding of Covid-19 will have any effect on the plot and if Australia’s wicked treatment of asylum seekers in detention will get a mention. Not sure I’ll be rushing to see it but there could be a very keen audience, a lot of reviewers think this book is a winner.