Kayak, by Kristal Stittle

Kayak is a post-apocalyptic horror novel written by Kristal Stittle, published by Tenebrous Press. A novel that takes the impact of an end-of-the-world situation and reduces it to the scale of one kid and a boat, trying to survive while dealing with his own inner demons, fighting guilt, all told through a dual timeline that not only allows us to understand how the world changed, but also how it affected Keith.

The Earth was invaded by the vicious creatures known as Dirt Devils, intelligent predators that are ground-bound, repealed by water; humanity has been forced to retreat to lakes, islands and boats in an attempt for survival. In this situation is where we find Keith, cramped and alone in his kayak, scavenging for supplies, hoping to find other survivors and avoid falling to the Dirt Devils; but there's more in Keith that it seems, and slowly, we will get to understand how he ended in this situation, and how his own inner demons are devouring him.

The past timeline was particularly engaging, showing how the world descends into madness and how small survivor groups started to appear around the masses of water; we see how Keith's life is transformed and how this traumatic experience shaped him, especially as the time passes with a world that has radically changed. Each small episode allows us to gain a better understanding of Keith.
It is true that the present timeline is much more atmospheric, especially with how the water setting is used, but it ends being a bit repetitive, because for the first half there's not much progress, just Keith and his kayak, trying to deal with the balls thrown by the situation.

In general, I found Kayak to be an enjoyable post-apocalyptic horror novel that makes its most of fleshing up its main character, showing his journey, and also taking advantage of how unique is the water setting; a well-executed coming of age story after a traumatic event.