The 11th plague isn't, as the title might imply, about a viral or zombie type infection, but rather the aftermath of 'the collapse' of the world as we know it. Set a few decades after a flu virus kills millions and starts a world war, the story is told from the point of view of a teenage boy, Stephen, as he and his family travel across the States trading in salvage. It has a very 'close to home' 
 feel to it - there's no futuristic space-agey atmosphere, no distant but menacing "authority" feeding everyone happy pills, no segregated communities or anything else like that you find in a lot of dystopian novels at the moment. It's earth, it's very close in the future, and there are moments when you could imagine some of the scenarios actually coming to fruition. Bad things happen but it really is a young-YA novel and there is nothing too unsavoury or harrowing - perhaps Hirsch could have pushed the envelope a little more but the pacing was nice and the characters felt believable . There's perhaps nothing new here, but this is a good addition to the genre, a solid but not outstanding read. The audio version is an enjoyable listen with good narration.