Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Last Plague | 2014 | Rich Hawkins | Buy |
| 2 | The Last Soldier | 2016 | Rich Hawkins | Buy |
| 3 | The Last Outpost | 2020 | Rich Hawkins | Buy |
The Last Plague is Rich Hawkins’s debut series and the work that established his name in UK horror fiction. The first book, published in 2014 and nominated for the British Fantasy Award for Best Horror Novel, follows four friends making a desperate journey across a Britain where an epidemic has destroyed civilization and the infected — transformed humans who hunt the remaining survivors — make every mile dangerous.
The series works in the tradition of British apocalyptic fiction, using the familiar English landscape as the setting for its horrors rather than a generic post-apocalyptic elsewhere. The Last Plague (2014) and The Last Soldier (2016) were published in quick succession. The Last Outpost (2020) brought the trilogy to its conclusion, appearing four years after the second book.
The series is the clearest entry point into Hawkins’s work for readers new to him, combining the post-apocalyptic horror he handles well with strong character work built around the friendships and obligations that bind the survivors together.