Quick, everyone run and hide.

James Dashner’s new novel “The Death Cure” depicts a world struck by an international pandemic. The Flare, an artificially created disease, causes victims to slowly become unstable to the point of attacking others. Interestingly enough, the infected are not called zombies, but Cranks, though their urge to consume human flesh is the same. The only one who can cure them is Thomas, a 16-year old boy immune to the Flare.  However, to do so he will have to comply with WICKED (World In Catastrophe — Killzone Experiment Department), an organization that may be evil — surprise, surprise. Although the premise is interesting, the author’s overall message and execution fall flat. This is one book where you want the protagonist to stop running comply with the enemy.

There is so much action, it almost makes you tired.  For hyperactive sixth graders, that may be good thing, but for your average person, reading exhausts and sometimes bores, as Dashner loves to make his characters run. This is the third book in a trilogy, and in the first book the characters run around a maze, in the second they run around a desert and in the third they run around everywhere else. It almost makes you want to sit them down and give them a lemonade.

Another reason you want Thomas and friends to stop running is because it seems like it would be in the world’s best interest for them to work with WICKED. Sure, the organization killed some people, but they were going to save billions more with their new cure.
Overall, this book is one to skip. Continuing the downward spiral from the first two books, it’s a good thing the series is stopping now and not ten mediocre books down the line. Running, shooting and bad plot lines may be fine for video games, but not for a novel.