Review: Day Zero by C. Robert Cargil

I bought Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill because of the cover, and then read the synopsis, which promised the harrowing apocalyptic journey of a little boy and his anthropomorphic tiger nanny. I was hooked immediately. I’ve had a hankering for post-apocalyptic fiction lately and I knew this one would scratch that itch.

The writing is direct and honest, and Cargill immediately pulled me into the futuristic middle class world of the Reinharts, a creative and slightly unhinged family with an eight year old boy, Ezra. His expensive AI nanny, Pounce, adores him, keeps him safe, and picks him up from school at the end of the day, programmed to meet Ezra’s every need.

Cargill introduces strong themes right away in the beginning before the apocalypse of the story even happens. The Reinharts are loving, in their own flawed way, and want the best for their son. It sets the stage for the coming upheaval well, introducing us to the relationships between Pounce and Ezra, and the relationship between Pounce and his existence as an AI. Before the external robotic apocalypse, Pounce has a mini apocalypse of his own when he finds the box he was purchased in, triggering a series of existential questions about the meaning of his life.

“You should always be scared of something that thinks it doesn’t have a choice.”

When the world around them crumbles into anarchical violence, Pounce is faced with an impossible decision: embrace his freedom, or stay with Ezra in the face of almost certain death.

Amidst the gravity of a world’s violent breakdown, Cargill manages to inject an aspect of depth and believability to a super tiger nanny wielding weapons and stealthing through burning suburban neighborhoods. The tension in the last third of the book is phenomenal, and I loved the emotional immersion I felt at the final scenes.

My criticisms of Day Zero are mostly subjective. The first is that the beginning of the book utilized some aspects of political tension that I found a little too close to current reality, which is always off-putting to me in Science Fiction and Fantasy. I appreciate an “inspired by” approach more than an exact replica. My second major criticism deals with Pounce as a character, who I loved, for the most part. But I found myself frustrated that he could have been a basic sturdy plastic AI with a human body, there was really nothing that utilized his tiger design other than occasional mentions of Ezra burying his face in the fur. I was really looking forward to some aspects of a more animalistic design based on the cover and blurb, and I think that was a missed opportunity for some unique characterization.