Monument by Dave Jeffery

Book Review

Sarah Deeming

A new sickness has swept through the world, ravaging the human body before killing its host. Named Meningitis Unspecified, or MNG-U, it killed most of the world’s population and left any who caught it but survived deaf. Those who can still hear are now in the minority. Without enough people left alive to run a whole country, survivors band together, sharing resources and protecting each other from other bands of survivors who want what they have.

The communities around Birmingham, England, have managed to carve out some sense of a normal life, making sure everyone’s needs are met and they are safe from the wilderness outside the city walls. But Cathedral, as the main stronghold is now called, is not a haven for all. People who were Deaf before MNG-U are labelled Harbingers, the reason for MNG-U, and are punished before being exercised. For the hearing, Harks, it is worse. Little more than slaves, Harks are chained, crippled and downtrodden because without their hearing, Cathedral would be exposed, and fear makes people do horrific things.

Monument gathers five stories from this universe, following characters from different walks of life as they try to navigate this new silent world.

For me, Monument is a re-read. I have been lucky enough to have copies of all of them for review and loved them all, which is a strong word for books about the worst that humanity is capable of, but this is one of my favourite series, as anyone who talks to me long enough will know. I will cover all the stories in Monument and look at the series as a whole.

Monument is a series of novellas about post-apocalyptic Birmingham, England, after a new strain of meningitis has robbed 99% of the survivors of their hearing. The first story, A Quiet Apocalypse, introduces us to this world, the power imbalance between those who can hear and those who can’t, and the horror of the new city, Cathedral. Cathedral takes us into the heart of the monster and shows how society is being restructured under the mantra of survival of the strongest. The Samaritan follows the most feared group in Cathedral, the Samaritans. They are the ones who are armed and are rewarded well for their risk, but there is a psychological cost which is examined in chilling detail. Tribunal is the final book looking at the overall human cost of the series and a fitting end to one of the most haunting and brutal series I have ever read. Do not expect a happy ending.

The first thing that stands out in this collection is world-building. It is striking and haunting. Jeffrey has based his narrative around Birmingham, an area he is intimately familiar with, and this comes across in his descriptions. The landscape is bleak and overgrown as nature is starting to reclaim the world, but there are still cul-de-sacs, shopping centres and churches to explore, all of which have been repurposed for this new world. It is a familiar but alien world full of violence and anger. Jeffrey’s knowledge of the location brings an added dimension to the setting and makes it vibrant, albeit bleak vibrant.

The second thing that really stands out in this series is the characters. Jeffery has picked emotive characters who draw you in. The first person we meet in the first novella, A Quiet Apocalypse, is Chris, who is a Hark, meaning he can still hear. This should give him an advantage in the world, but instead, he is a slave, crippled and chained and forced to work or be beaten. This in itself is a bad situation, but what tips it from bad to torturous is that Chris can hear everything. He can hear his captor crying in the next room. When the Samaritans from Cathedral arrive, he can hear them coming. When a Harbinger is caught, he can hear their torture. The other side of this is Alice, a woman who lost her husband and sons to MNG-U. Her grief is visceral and understandable, and she partakes in torturing Harks and Harbingers, but she can’t hear the impact of her actions. She can’t hear their cries and pleas for mercy. If she could, would she continue with her behaviour?

This re-read made me realise how taking away someone’s hearing might affect their behaviour. “Can you hear yourself?” is a common phrase when we think someone is talking nonsense, maybe being too extreme in their views. We’ve all been guilty of complaining out loud and then realising how petty or ridiculous we’re being when we can hear ourselves say the words. In Cathedral, we meet Sarah, a musician who has lost more than her family and hearing from MNG-U, but also the thing that gave her life purpose: music. Through her, we witness a Harbinger, someone born Deaf, being tortured. She describes what she sees, but she is distanced from the scene because she can’t hear it.

I also appreciated the quality of Jeffrey’s writing all over again. It is clean, stripped bare of unnecessary descriptions to get right to the heart of the story. The reader can’t hide from the violence in the stories, and they are very violent with mentions of rape, infanticide, and physical and mental abuse, so it is not for the faint-hearted, but the novellas are also a thoughtful read. None of the violence is glorified.

But while this series does show us the worst aspects of humanity, especially The Samaritan (I thought I was emotionally ready for whatever that book was going to throw at me, butI was wrong), there is still hope. The residents of Cathedral show us a path of anger, but there is also a path of hope and cooperation, and this comes in the Tribunal. I don’t want to go into details because it will spoil the surprises of the previous books as well as this one, but it draws the series to a satisfactory ending.

In addition to the four novellas that make up the series, there is also an original short story, The First Samaritan, which explains how the term Samaritan came into being and the rise of the Cathedral. If Monument doesn’t represent value for money, then I don’t know what does.

Monument is an immersive read, taking a world familiar to use and turning it on its head simply by taking away one of a person’s five senses. I love post-apocalyptic horror, and Monument hits the mark in the most uncomfortable and horrifying manner. Jeffrey is a master of unassuming horror, creating an environment of danger and mistrust where even the slightest infraction of the rules can earn extreme punishments, and the human psyche’s need for a scapegoat rules the landscape. Monument isn’t just highly recommended for fans of horror and post-apocalyptic fiction; it is essential.