I think this book does a fantastic job at creating a visceral, gut-churning sensation of dread, of the inescapability of what is about to happen—because going into this book, you know what’s going to happen. You know there is a plague about to be spread, and you are left helpless, desperate to warn all these characters of the horror that’s about to unfold. But you simply can’t. For that feeling alone, drawn up so horribly into the present day as we acclimate to a world burdened by Covid-19, you can’t help but be impressed by the literary merit of this novella (despite it originally being written as a screenplay!).