I hate to leave hints about my reviews before I get a chance to write them, but when I marked the book as finished on Goodreads late last night, I couldn’t help myself. I tapped those 5 stars and went to sleep. I remember seeing Cargo, by Ruth Anna Evans in the Books of Horror Freview group. I didn’t request an ARC because I’m behind as it is, but I did find it available on KU and tucked it away for the right moment. Turns out, that moment was last night right after finishing a Shrek based erotic fanfic. Don’t judge me. I chose this one specifically because it is a short read, clocking in at 88 pages. I could read that before bed, I thought, and I did.

This book is straight up terrifying. As I read, my mind made comparisons to real world human trafficking situations. I live in deep south Texas right near the border. Every so often there are stories of cargo trucks packed with people who paid a high price for a chance to start a new (safe) life in the United States. You hear about their treacherous journeys that don’t always have a happy ending. Given the year round heat in this region, those truck rides are sometimes a death sentence. Sometimes the destination is worse than their starting point. I spent the entire time fearing that Marilee, the 12 year old main character, would suffer the kind of fate that women and young girls often do both in the real world and in every fictional post apocalyptic scenario.

This story takes place on a version of Earth that is nearing its death. The planet is a sweltering hell hole. There are no natural resources left, only dirt and grass. Humanity is dying out. The last generation of humans are barely surviving, having learned to keep their bellies full on dirt and tree bark. Everyone is starving and hiding from those who have chosen to avoid starvation by resorting to cannibalism, and those people seem to take great pleasure in this choice. Because this world is such a shitshow, people are willing to pay their way off the planet. This entails agreeing to be packed in metal cargo containers with as many people that fit, with only a janky ventilation system, a water tank, and a bucket to poop in for 10 days. Even if everything went as planned, it’s not an easy journey. And to top it off, no one really knows what they are getting themselves into. They just assume it has to be better than Earth.

Of course nothing goes as planned. The ventilation system quits on them. The people in Marilee’s container nearly suffocate before she finds a tiny crack. The poop bucket filled up way before the end of the trip. People are dying and the living are struggling to remain civil to one another while they take turns sucking in breaths through the crack. When they arrive at their destination, whatever bits of hope they had are quickly dashed. Every new development is worse than the last. This book is all anxiety and claustrophobia.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me. This is really good as is but I also wish there were more details. I want to know more about this terrifying Earth. I want to know more about the fates of the people who end up on this new planet. I want more.

You can buy Cargo, by Ruth Anna Evans on Amazon for a couple bucks or read it as part of your Kindle Unlimited subscription. Get it.