Ten years before The Girl with All the Gifts, humanity still had hope. A return to civilization was still possible, and they believed a cure for the hungry pathogen was attainable. That hope led a group of humanity’s best and brightest to leave the “safe” confines of Britain’s last bastion of humanity in search of answers in the prequel to Mike Carey’s 2014 best-seller.

The Boy on the Bridge centers around the ill-fated final voyage of the Rosalind Franklin, one of two mobile armored laboratories sent out by Beacon, whose remains are discovered in the final act of The Girl with All the Gifts. The Rosie is doubly crewed; half by scientists, led by Dr. Alan Fournier, and half by soldiers, commanded by Colonel Isaac Carlisle. The scientists and soldiers embark on an eighteen-month mission to research the cordyceps fungus that has hijacked human bodies and turned them into mindless, murderous cannibals. The scientists include Dr. Samrina Khan, an epidemiologist who harbors a secret that could end the mission early, and her ward, Stephen Greaves, an autistic teenage genius who makes a discovery that could save humanity at the cost of his own. Meanwhile, on the military side, Lt. Daniel McQueen is openly resentful of Col. Carlisle’s command due to a reputation the colonel earned in the early days of The Breakdown by torching an entire town full of live humans. So when an opportunity comes along to usurp the colonel’s command—an opportunity sanctioned by Beacon—he wonders if he should.

The Boy on the Bridge is a wonderful, if unnecessary, addition to The Girl with All the Gifts’s universe as it fills in gaps you weren’t aware existed in the original’s narrative. The discovery of the second-generation hungries is revealed here, as well as the origin of the political situation at Beacon that left the military in charge. Additionally, the drama of 12 people sharing an armored bus while trying to keep their secrets is compelling, especially when some of the secrets change the scope of their mission and the world. While the background characters are well-crafted, the novel’s stars—Dr. Khan, Stephen, Col. Carlisle, Lt. McQueen, and Dr. Fournier—shine by not being what they project themselves to be. Stephen, who the soldiers on the bus nickname “the Robot” because of his potential autism, surprised me with his humanity in a world that conditioned people to be inhumane.

What The Boy on the Bridge doesn’t do is carve out new ground. The stakes are muted since it’s a prequel that takes place a full decade before humanity is almost extinct. It’s hard to get excited about the potential cure for a zombie plague when you know that the zombies are still running the show in ten years. As a result, the story is overly reliant on clashing personalities in a small space. And even that was done better in The Girl with All the Gifts. None of that is to say The Boy on the Bridge is a bad book—quite the contrary—it just should have been the first book.

On a side note, I would be remiss in ignoring the cameo appearances by a couple of the main characters. Some were mentioned, some had speaking parts, and it was all a lovely Easter egg for fans of the series.

The Boy on the Bridge exists in a strange place that is unique to prequels. It trades on the popularity of the previously released work, and that restricts its ability to stand on its own. But if you’re a completionist who must have everything related to a series, or if you haven’t yet read The Girl with All the Gifts, I can recommend this to you confidently. You won’t be disappointed.

Pros: Fun read, Easter eggs aplenty, strong characters

Cons: Feels like a retread.

Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars.

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