Richard Matheson, I Am Legend (Millennium SF Masterworks S)

Robert Neville is the last man alive on earth. All others have been mutated into some type of vampire that come out after sunset and yell, scream and taunt him to no end.

Robert Neville is a survivor, and has outfitted his home with soundproofing, a walk in pantry-his den, an electric generator to run the freezer and lights, and a lot of booze.

The sight of watching the disease destroy everyone and everything he knew and loved still haunts him.

His wife and daughter were turned into the living dead, forcing him to kill them and burn their bodies.

His neighbor, who emerges after dark with the rest of the living corpses, yell and taunt him. Invoking his name night after night it drives Robert Neville mad!

These "things" are no longer recognizable as people or once humans. The disease dried up their blood, turned them pasty white, taken their hair and replaced teeth with fangs.

they claw and scratch at his door night after night for three years. And for three years, Robert Neville restocks, resupplies and kills vampires during the day. First, by using a wood lave to cut wooden spikes, because bullets do not effect these creatures.

Then, he decides to learn about the disease, try and cure it by passing away the time with medical books and theory.

Until, one day in the field across the street from him, he sees a young woman, she doesn't notice him. He stares at her crossing the sunlight field as though he has lost his mind.

He chases her down, trying to get her attention and she flees, he finally tackles her and she struggles to break free of him.

Cut to his home-Robert and a silent strange woman, are sitting and she is frightened.

Thats all I'll tell you about this one, but once you read it, you'll discover why it got a 10!

Matheson wrote this story in the late 1950's so some of the situations or automobiles, may confuse the reader, but the entire feel of this apocalyptic novel strikes home to the reader.

Written back in 1954, Richard Matheson's first novel "I Am Legend" was the big inspiration behind George A. Romero's cult classic zombie masterpiece "Night Of The Living Dead" (1968). Instead of zombies creating a post-apocalyptic world we have vampires (both living and dead). The novel delivers an eye-opening social commentary, with the over hanging question of "at what point does humanity become the freak of nature and the killer?". With the numbers of humans alive being reduced dramatically daily, and the number of vampires increasing at the same rate, at some point those humans left alive are going to be seen as the threat upon the new 'vampire society'. This shift in power creates a thought provoking read as this downbeat tale spirals towards an almost inevitable conclusion.

Matheson has created a dark and depressing vision of the future, with the main character Robert Neville, demonstrating severe depression and mental strain as he struggles to hang on to a life he's not sure he wants to live anymore. The underlying loneliness and emotional claustrophobia throughout the novel screams of George Orwell's 1949 novel "1984".

Running for a mere 160 pages, "I Am Legend" is a novel that you'll find yourself wanting to finish reading from the moment you first pick it up. The novel is an important book for horror and sci-fi fans alike, creating the initial inspiration for so many books and films to come. The novel was later made into two films, "The Last Man on Earth" (with Vincent Price) and "The Omega Man" (with Charlton Heston). Both films do not do this incredible and disturbing novel any justice, but "The Last Man On Earth" does deliver a very close representation on the events that take place within the book.