The sweeping, authoritative and genuinely intelligent thriller—the sort of novel in which the author employs a bulldozer and a scalpel at the same time—is a rare specimen. Lawrence Wright's second novel, The End of October, is one of these. The fact that it's about the world in shock and ruin because of a virus similar to Covid-19 makes it read as if it's been shot out of a cannon…What [Wright] offers…is a great deal of learning about viruses and their attendant political and social horrors; learning that he injects into a maniacal page-turner. He offers the joy of competence—his own as a writer, and the scientific and moral competence of many of the characters he's invented…Wright's novel is…real if solemn entertainment, a stay against boredom and a kind of offered prayer for the best in us to rise to the surface.