I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

This was my "Halloween" season book.  I recommend it.  But I will say of all the books I have ever read that had movies based on them, this was by far the most "nothing like the movie" book I have ever read, and that includes "The Shining" and "Congo".  Don't get me wrong, I actually like the Will Smith movie (Yes, there were two other movies made, one in the 60's and one in the 70's, but I have not seen those).  But there was one thing about it that I never understood, the title "I Am Legend", it didn't really make sense.  Why was Will Smith a legend?  Wouldn't hero be a better word if he found a cure for the virus?  Well, when you read the book, you understand where the title comes from.  This book was first published in 1954 and it is set in the apocalyptic future of 1976 through 1979.  The main character, Robert Neville, is just a normal guy, not an army doctor.  It is set in L.A., specifically in Compton and Englewood....long before Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre.   The "bad guys", are vampires, not super zombies or what ever they are in the Will Smith movie.  And by vampires, I mean old school vampires, hate crosses, mirrors, garlic, etc.  Neville does become a scientist and discovers the science behind the vampires.  He also goes out in the morning and kills about 50 or so while they sleep, every single morning as long as it isn't cloudy.  There is a woman that he meets and a dog, but that is about the only similarity.  


SPOILER ALERT




Ruth is not a nice woman that takes the cure to the last human civilization.  She is a spy for the newly mutated vampires that can come out in the light.  She she feels sorry for Neville and tries to save him, but in the end he is captured and sentenced to death by the new society of vampires.  In the end, Neville is told that he is the last of his race, and before he commits suicide he sees how the sight of him strikes fear into the new inhabitants of the vampire world.  He is the terror that was responsible for killing thousands.  They will tell frightening stories about his kind, not the other way around.  He is now legend.