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jameshaus's review against another edition
5.0
I picked up this book last night, started in on the second chapter, and didn't stop turning pages until I was finished, if that tells you anything about how much I liked this book. It's a classic noir murder mystery set in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse, chronicling the tale of Glen Novak attempting to solve his own murder before being devoured by the zombie plague he has been purposely infected with.
I'm not normally into noir or murder mysteries (I enjoy them, but I've never focused on them particularly), but this one was great. The writing wastes zero time. it is, in the truest of sense of the phrase, all killer no filler. The setting is a small coastal town in California that's managed to work out a semi-stable sense of order within it's walls, although one that turns out to be completely illusory. The tensions in the town are well balanced between the ever-present worry of an undead swarm and the political tension between the town's power players: the wealthy, elitists on the hill, the religious tribe in the town, and Novak's smaller contingent of free-thinking, free-loving pragmatists. And the basic tension that kept me turning the pages, was wondering what was going to destroy Novak first: His bite, the undead, the bloody political machinations of the town, or the way he kept making bloody enemies with his fists.
If you're not into bloody depictions of gore and horror, then this may not be the book for you. Novak isn't really the kind of guy who fucks around, and once his death warrant is signed, less so. But, if that kind of thing is up your alley, Jesus does this book deliver. The zombie (geek) mythology is well-designed, the action sequences are frequent and fun, and Glen's desire for bloody revenge eventually snowballs into a blood-soaked, body-stacked finale that left me wanting to smoke a cigarette. Or to take up smoking 5 years previously so I could close the book, light up, take a long drag and slowly exhale while saying, "Oh yeah, that hit the spot."
If you like zombies, if you like murder mysteries, if you light tight, well-crafted stories that don't waste your time, pick this book up immediately.
I'm not normally into noir or murder mysteries (I enjoy them, but I've never focused on them particularly), but this one was great. The writing wastes zero time. it is, in the truest of sense of the phrase, all killer no filler. The setting is a small coastal town in California that's managed to work out a semi-stable sense of order within it's walls, although one that turns out to be completely illusory. The tensions in the town are well balanced between the ever-present worry of an undead swarm and the political tension between the town's power players: the wealthy, elitists on the hill, the religious tribe in the town, and Novak's smaller contingent of free-thinking, free-loving pragmatists. And the basic tension that kept me turning the pages, was wondering what was going to destroy Novak first: His bite, the undead, the bloody political machinations of the town, or the way he kept making bloody enemies with his fists.
If you're not into bloody depictions of gore and horror, then this may not be the book for you. Novak isn't really the kind of guy who fucks around, and once his death warrant is signed, less so. But, if that kind of thing is up your alley, Jesus does this book deliver. The zombie (geek) mythology is well-designed, the action sequences are frequent and fun, and Glen's desire for bloody revenge eventually snowballs into a blood-soaked, body-stacked finale that left me wanting to smoke a cigarette. Or to take up smoking 5 years previously so I could close the book, light up, take a long drag and slowly exhale while saying, "Oh yeah, that hit the spot."
If you like zombies, if you like murder mysteries, if you light tight, well-crafted stories that don't waste your time, pick this book up immediately.
cj_jones's review against another edition
4.0
Zombie Noir, in the style of "D.O.A." It's a hard world where a man makes his own laws, and Novak is obsessed with control. When he gets bitten, he knows he has about 24 hours left and is determined to exact revenge before he puts himself down. (He uses 'fag' and 'pussy' as perjorative terms, but he's not supposed to be a 'good' character and so I'd like to think the author used that as part of his portrayal as a complex and toxicly masculine character.)
I didn't realize it until I got on the GoodReads website, but this is the same author who wrote "City of Devils", another four star review of mine.
I didn't realize it until I got on the GoodReads website, but this is the same author who wrote "City of Devils", another four star review of mine.
unluckyprimes's review
1.0
The first chapter of this book was unreal. I thought it was going to turn into a really cool zombie book and I was going to love it. And there are a lot of reasons why I didn't.
To be fair, this is probably more accurately somewhere in 1.5 star range. I didn't particularly like it, but some of it was ok. Which is the division between 1 star and 2 stars, so.
Listen, I get it. I don't mind reading books with swearing or explicit sexual content or super messed up things happening in them. I enjoy morally ambiguous characters and shades of grey and anti-heroes. I understand why your zombie apocalypse book would take the dark and gritty approach.
I really do.
But there is a fine line between doing all of those things because they are necessary for the narrative and being gratuitous about it. This book has no idea where that line is drawn and doesn't particularly seem to care. And instead of enhancing the book, it just made me roll my eyes.
That said, there were a few interesting gems here and there. The worldbuilding has been thought out. It put its own spin on the genre and I think that worked out well for it. There were also some interesting characters who were incidentally not heteronormative. The overall cast was racially diverse. And there were descriptions of people of a variety of body types.
But it was still a cast dominated by men. What little women there were to be had were treated appallingly by the narrative. Their dominant (and generally, only) role was that of sex object. If not that, then as a breeder to carry on the next generation. They were all framed in that context and at one point or another were all called varying denigrating slurs.
I understand that there's a difference between character perspective and author perspective. I do. But at the end of the day, the author is still making intentional choices about how that character acts and interacts with others.
Novak is not a good guy. And I get that too. It's part of what makes him interesting and, at times, compelling. But again, there's the line between necessity and gratuity.
I read this book in about 24 hours because I had a lot of sitting around and waiting going on in my day today. I finished it tonight because I was most of the way through it already. But it wasn't really enjoyable. And I wouldn't recommend you waste your time with it.
To be fair, this is probably more accurately somewhere in 1.5 star range. I didn't particularly like it, but some of it was ok. Which is the division between 1 star and 2 stars, so.
Listen, I get it. I don't mind reading books with swearing or explicit sexual content or super messed up things happening in them. I enjoy morally ambiguous characters and shades of grey and anti-heroes. I understand why your zombie apocalypse book would take the dark and gritty approach.
I really do.
But there is a fine line between doing all of those things because they are necessary for the narrative and being gratuitous about it. This book has no idea where that line is drawn and doesn't particularly seem to care. And instead of enhancing the book, it just made me roll my eyes.
That said, there were a few interesting gems here and there. The worldbuilding has been thought out. It put its own spin on the genre and I think that worked out well for it. There were also some interesting characters who were incidentally not heteronormative. The overall cast was racially diverse. And there were descriptions of people of a variety of body types.
But it was still a cast dominated by men. What little women there were to be had were treated appallingly by the narrative. Their dominant (and generally, only) role was that of sex object. If not that, then as a breeder to carry on the next generation. They were all framed in that context and at one point or another were all called varying denigrating slurs.
I understand that there's a difference between character perspective and author perspective. I do. But at the end of the day, the author is still making intentional choices about how that character acts and interacts with others.
Novak is not a good guy. And I get that too. It's part of what makes him interesting and, at times, compelling. But again, there's the line between necessity and gratuity.
I read this book in about 24 hours because I had a lot of sitting around and waiting going on in my day today. I finished it tonight because I was most of the way through it already. But it wasn't really enjoyable. And I wouldn't recommend you waste your time with it.
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