I AM LEGEND By Richard Matheson

Published : 1954
Pages : 160
Overall Mark : 9/10

Robert Neville is the last human alive on Earth. The rest of humanity, and indeed the animal kingdom, has succumbed to a terrible disease which transforms them into vampire-like creatures of the night. Finding himself scared and alone, Neville barricades himself in his house and prepares for an inevitable future of non-stop terror and alertness, trying to protect himself from the creatures who were once his friends and neighbours. But when he meets a young woman who appears, like himself, to be free of the illness, things start to look up for Robert Neville.

I was surprised at how modern this book felt. Richard Matheson manages to make this book feel contemporary even by today’s standards and, as this is supposed to be set in the late 70s, that’s not an easy task! This novel has been imitated by many, most recently in Stephen King’s Cell, but will always remain one of the original and the best of the modern vampire novels, up there with the likes of Dracula!