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Isolation Watch: Falling Apart in the Pandemic

By Ben Tallon

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A good pandemic can bring out some of the best in people and a whole lot of worst.

Synopsis

When the virus hit, no zombies roamed the streets. No police helicopters roared overhead and the military were never summoned to take down the monster.

For the residents of one sleepy suburban neighbourhood, the real-life, domestic consequences of lockdown were far more disastrous than anything Hollywood ever told them would happen.

Isolation Watch is a behind closed-doors, candid account of what happened to generation on-demand during the COVID-19 pandemic when they were ordered to stay indoors and forced to look at themselves in the mirror, naked.

A husband digs a grave for his wife of 34-years and fills it in again after she threatens to kill him over a badly organised fridge.

When the smiling homeless lady arrives on an affluent street one afternoon, widespread panic breaks out.

Strimmers, hoses, hammers and drills hum a symphony of sedation from homes that never looked so good.

A true-crime fanatic follows the serial-killer lookalike from up the street. A haunting discovery leaves her wishing she had just stayed in and watched The Ted Bundy Tapes again.

2020 has been one heck of a year. The entire world spiraled out of control because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and many people came together during a time of crisis. Then there was everybody else.


Panic and fear can often bring out the worst in people, which Ben Tallon shows in his book, Isolation Watch: Falling Apart in the Pandemic. The author drops readers in a neighborhood full of people with issues made worse by the threat of disease and the frustrations of isolation and quarantine. Boy, are there frustrations.


Tallon tells a chronicle-type story of pent up people doing some crazy things. One guy even has a sword in his wall. With each swipe, I wondered what would be the next wild thing for someone to have or do.


Everything is told in third-person omniscient. It has to be because of all the lunacy, which I was totally on board for. Romance is my genre of choice, but I sometimes want to read something from a different genre and get a break from the happily-ever-afters. This book was a big divergence from the love and reflects a lot of the chaos going on in actual life, with characters representing people from all walks of life. There are housewives, business owners, essential workers and, of course, conspiracy theorists. Gotta have at least one of those.


Readers who like books that peel back the layer on the façade of suburban life and dramatic retellings may enjoy Isolation.


Reviewed by
Layla Abdullah-Poulos

I have a B.A. in Historical Studies and Literature, an M.A. in Liberal Studies, and an AC in Women and Gender Studies. I am an adjunct instructor, writer and content editor. I have a strong background in literary criticism and have been reviewing books for several years.

Isolation Watch: Falling Apart in the Pandemic

Written by Ben Tallon

Buy it nowBuy nowBuy
Read preview
Synopsis

When the virus hit, no zombies roamed the streets. No police helicopters roared overhead and the military were never summoned to take down the monster.

For the residents of one sleepy suburban neighbourhood, the real-life, domestic consequences of lockdown were far more disastrous than anything Hollywood ever told them would happen.

Isolation Watch is a behind closed-doors, candid account of what happened to generation on-demand during the COVID-19 pandemic when they were ordered to stay indoors and forced to look at themselves in the mirror, naked.

A husband digs a grave for his wife of 34-years and fills it in again after she threatens to kill him over a badly organised fridge.

When the smiling homeless lady arrives on an affluent street one afternoon, widespread panic breaks out.

Strimmers, hoses, hammers and drills hum a symphony of sedation from homes that never looked so good.

A true-crime fanatic follows the serial-killer lookalike from up the street. A haunting discovery leaves her wishing she had just stayed in and watched The Ted Bundy Tapes again.

Day 0

The locals have been whispering about it for weeks.

 

“The virus is getting worse. It’s not just about the elderly and the vulnerable anymore. They’ll put us in lockdown soon.”

 

Nobody truly believed it; they just watched the big red banner across the bottom of the news screen as the death rate continued to rise. None of us knew what that meant. Stay in? What, all the time? What about the dog? They can’t do that, can they?

 

But they did.

 

Stood at podiums, talking in sullen voices, government officials around the world changed laws and asked us all to come together to “control the virus”, to protect a healthcare system that would be otherwise be overwhelmed.

 

Stay indoors!

 

Do your civil duty!

 

At first it felt like a school snow day. There was plenty of fear, of course; idiots started buying up toilet roll without any logical base and there was talk of the army being called upon to guard supermarkets.

 

The Walking Dead sprang to mind. 28 Days Later.

 

The idea that a manageable catastrophe might make life more exciting for people trapped in desk jobs and hygge homes was tangible. At the off license and down the local pub, everyone talked a little more. Something in common for all offered renewed hope that their monthly missionary position thrust might just reignite that sex-life.

 

We had to believe we’d be OK behind these walls and doors.

 

But very quickly, that arsehole you married – and spent the last 20-years tolerating, avoiding or destroying – was home. There’d be no workplace escape for them. Not tomorrow. Not the next day. Maybe never again. The kids came barrelling into the living room with snot on their chins and shoes on and you puked everywhere when you realised teaching double-science, maths, and geography was now on you.

 

An altogether more terrifying blend of survival horror was here to stay and it was right there in the mirror.

 

The following is a broad account of what happened when the residents of a sleepy, suburban neighbourhood were forced to confront their private truths during the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.

 

Isolation Watch: Falling Apart in the Pandemic

Written by Ben Tallon

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About the author

With searing wit and bare-knuckle prose, Ben Tallon digs deep into the darkest pits of the human psyche and reminds us that we are animals. Human vulnerability, inescapable realities, and the terrifying everyday are the stars in his warped show. view profile

Published on September 03, 2020

20000 words

Contains mild explicit content ⚠️

Genre:Contemporary Fiction

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