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lynguy1 's review for:
Dead of Night
by Jonathan Maberry
Jonathan Maberry continues to amaze and entertain me with his range and quality of writing. Dead of Night, the first book in a series by the same name is no different. A prison doctor injects a condemned prisoner with a formula designed to punish him by keeping him awake while his body rots in its grave. However, things don’t follow his plan. The drugs have unforeseen side-effects. When the killer wakes up before he’s buried, he’s hungry, infected, and contagious.
Several main characters are well-defined with depth, but many of them are not likeable. The main local police officers are Officer Desdemona Fox and Sergeant JT Hammond. Fox is not a congenial main character, but she does care about protecting the community. She likes high speed chases, swears a lot, is a good cop and ex-military, and acts quickly under pressure, but she’s not a very nice person. JT is the most likeable character in the story. He’s organized, tidy, loves comics, and is detail-oriented. However, despite his long tenure with the department, he’s never experienced true danger. Readers also get a perspective from the antagonists in this novel, providing more insight into the situation.
The story has a solid plot and there is a feeling of deep anxiety throughout the novel. The story moves at a reasonable pace, but could have been tightened a bit to make it more impactful. Despite this it’s got plenty of exciting scenes, a different twist on zombies, and great world-building. Themes include scientific experiments, revenge, grief, rage, murder, fear, confusion, family, friends, community, and political and military maneuvering and actions.
Overall, this was an entertaining and emotional story filled with tension that kept me turning the pages. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
I purchased a copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date was October 25, 2011.
Several main characters are well-defined with depth, but many of them are not likeable. The main local police officers are Officer Desdemona Fox and Sergeant JT Hammond. Fox is not a congenial main character, but she does care about protecting the community. She likes high speed chases, swears a lot, is a good cop and ex-military, and acts quickly under pressure, but she’s not a very nice person. JT is the most likeable character in the story. He’s organized, tidy, loves comics, and is detail-oriented. However, despite his long tenure with the department, he’s never experienced true danger. Readers also get a perspective from the antagonists in this novel, providing more insight into the situation.
The story has a solid plot and there is a feeling of deep anxiety throughout the novel. The story moves at a reasonable pace, but could have been tightened a bit to make it more impactful. Despite this it’s got plenty of exciting scenes, a different twist on zombies, and great world-building. Themes include scientific experiments, revenge, grief, rage, murder, fear, confusion, family, friends, community, and political and military maneuvering and actions.
Overall, this was an entertaining and emotional story filled with tension that kept me turning the pages. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
I purchased a copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date was October 25, 2011.