Population 3000 by Lay Dee

A small town, an unnamed protagonist and a rapidly dropping population count. At least it’s not the end of the world, right?

A small town is eagerly awaiting the birth of its three thousandth inhabitant. There are two prime candidates- the mother of the protagonist (who remains something of a mystery throughout the book, having no name or even gender pronouns) and their next door neighbor. As it happens, the neighbor gives birth first and immediately her husband is killed in a freak accident. Thus starts the deaths, or would that be murders, that whittle down the population from the titular number.

The author does a good job of providing new and inventive ways for the townspeople to die. A little like watching a Final Destination movie, it was enjoyable to read the set up for a scene and guess how the death was going to go down.

The protagonist was likeable and had a strong voice. Obviously a person who cared about family and helping others, they were a character that was pleasant to spend time with. However, the conceit of no name or physical description did wear thin as the book progressed.

I enjoyed this book. The author has a strong, likeable voice and the deaths were great fun. I worked out what was going on a long time before any of the characters, things dragged a bit in the middle and the ending felt rushed.

However, because of the entertaining and imaginative deaths, I award Population 3000...

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