Slashvivor! (2017) by Stephen Kozeniewski and Stevie Kopas - Horror Novel Review

My whole life I have had a huge fondness for the killer gameshow idea. From my young years watching The Running Man and playing Smash TV, to later on becoming obsessed with Battle Royale, and becoming quite possibly the sole fan of very indie horror Slashers ("Super Fun!"), and later loving the idea for graphic novel Slashermania. This has been an idea that really appealed, that mix of what should be innocent fun mixed with the hauntingly sadistic. When I saw that authors Stephen Kozeniewski (The Thing Under Your Bed) and Stevie Kopas had written their own entry into this horror subgenre; Slashvivor!, I was very intrigued. Having read author Sean E. Britten's excellent Kill Switch trilogy towards the end of the teens, I didn't really see how this one would feel too different. Earlier this year I read standalone prequel, Razortooth, which was written after this novel. Would having foreknowledge of the world and its characters impact my enjoyment or add to it? 

In an alternate Earth that saw Russia and the U.S.A engage in a nuclear war (and America very much coming out on bottom), the continent is now a nuclear wasteland that has came to be known as 'The Geiger Lands' There is no government anymore, instead various warlords have rose up to rule the various states. In this land there is a special gameshow broadcast illegally that the whole nation adores. 'Try Not to Die' sees contestants plucked out of the remains of society at random and taken to a custom built arena full of deadly traps, where they are hunted by vicious killers. These maniacs, referred to as 'slashers' are loved enough that they have become household names, and stars in their own right. For the latest episode of the show, one of the unlucky contestants is Dawn, a determined young woman who intends to not only find a way to survive the rigged game, but also to find a way to somehow reach the producers box and kill the show creator; warlord Marisol.

Having read the prequel, I eagerly awaited the arrival of Razortooth, but she turned out to be far more of a side character here, appearing at around the halfway point of the roughly 300 page book. I love killer gameshows but initially I can't say I was impressed with this one. The contestants were quickly dropping like flies, while the action pausing for ad-breaks (that get their own mini-chapters, much like with the prequel) led to a frustrating feeling of stopping and starting. I then had the realisation that I was little better than the rabid audience, wanting to see blood and violence at the expense of everything else. Once I began to appreciate this wasn't going to play out as a proper episode of the show, and followed the format more of rebelling against the very idea of it, that I became much more invested in the story. The actual gameshow makes up most of the novel, and it was neat that both the contestants and production staff get their own little subplots going on. Best of the staff parts were jaded gameshow host, Mark Winters. He was a very interesting character, turning to alcohol to be able to believably play his part of jokester host, when in reality he is horrified by it all. I enjoyed these frequent cutaways to him and his interactions with other staff, such as showrunners, and the producers themselves. My very favourite part of the novel was a found footage style section that saw two hapless camera-men forced to head into the cells where the killers are kept, after one of the contestants is abducted by one of the slashers.
From the very start, Slashvivors! is a wild ride, never dull, never lacking in extreme violent action. This was a brutal world where life is so cheap that many people dream of being able to get murdered by their favourite slasher.

Where most of the contestants are blank slates; just existing to be killed like Star Trek 'redshirts', the slashers were full of personality, and became the highlight. From a homicidal Abraham Lincoln kill-bot, to the cannibal - Charming Charles, mutant Denny the Killer Clown, and psychotic child, Abadonna - these killers were so varied and so much fun to read about. Of course, Razortooth eventually enters the story, and having read her origin story made the character better here. It was also cool to see other characters from the prequel also appearing in roles here.
There were moments of extreme violence, the use of a cheese-grater on a limbless victim's face for instance, and someone who was forced to eat their own genitals! The world was sadistically cruel, reflected very much with what happens throughout the story.
Slashvivor! went along at a blistering pace, Dawn was a decent protagonist, with a good story progression. I liked the use of flashbacks to reveal more about some of the characters, such as the origin story for warlord Marisol.

After a start that I was unsure of, I quickly got into the thrilling story, becoming hooked. This was one of those novels where I had a genuine bittersweet feeling reaching the end, I wanted to stay with these characters more. Slashvivor! was a fantastic novel, well worth reading.

SCORE:

Vindicated (2011) by Scott Harper - Horror Novel Review

Having read author Scott Harper's Shadow Castes: Book 1 - Aspects book earlier this year, I noticed that I also had a copy of the third book in his Wendy Markland trilogy. It all started with 2008's     Predators or Prey?; a vampire story that I was initially luke-warm on. Last year, I realised there was a sequel - the excellent Necromancer, which had zombies as the main enemy. Capping off the trilogy is Vindicated, returning to vampires, and a perfect finish to the trilogy.

I think this takes place roughly six months after the events of Necromancer. Monster hunter, Wendy Markland has headed to Florida, though has noticed a car has been following her the entire way. Confronting the driver at a gas station, he introduces himself as Colm Pryce - a fellow monster hunter who brings with him terrible news. He tells Wendy that she is being hunted by a very powerful group of vampires who call themselves 'The Kindred of Malignity'. Their leader is Adolph Larson; a vampire so strong that he has powers rarely seen (such as being able to be outside during the daytime). Colm also tells Wendy that what makes this group more dangerous is that each time a member is slain, the remaining members inherit that dead vampires strength.

Vindicated was a great end to the trilogy. Where Necromancer was an almost stand-alone story, this one has ties back to both novels. Never the most capable or enthusiastic of monster hunters, Wendy is really shown to be on the back-foot here. There never seemed a single point in the novel where she is doing anything but reacting to the actions of her attackers. As antagonists go, The Kindred of Malignity were pretty cool. I loved that each member was given at least a little bit of backstory to their characters. This gave an almost Kill Bill feel of the unique gang members all out to get Wendy. While in peril and out of her depth, she is helped by the group never seeming to ever take her seriously as a threat. The vampires are either really inept, or the apparently super vampires are not that much more dangerous than the normal type, with them spending the entire book constantly underestimating Wendy.

The horror comes in three key ignition points throughout the story. Each time the group get in a battle with Wendy and Colm you could be sure of a thrilling read. Lots of gory decapitations of victims, and lots of extreme violence given to the paper tiger vampires. I zoomed through the 281 page novel, barely able to put it down. By this point in the series I was really hooked, liking protagonist Wendy despite her continuing off-putting narcissistic qualities of constantly admiring her own body. Being a Harper book, of course this heroine is a flawless beauty, something she is well aware of. There is some growth to be found in her character, with her leaving the book a very different person at book's end than she was at the start. This was a transition I hadn't expected.

Vindicated was a great finish to the story of Wendy Markland. I really liked how flawed and ultimately human she was. She gets emotional, she makes terrible mistakes both in her actions and her priorities, but she really grew as a character over the course of her three books.

SCORE:

The Hematophages: Splatterings (2026) by Stephen Kozeniewski - Horror Story Collection Review

The Hematophages: Splatterings is another collection of short stories from Stephen Kozeniewski (Yes, I am a Vampire). This one is a mini-collection comprised of four short stories over 120 pages. All of these are set within the author's Hematophages world. This is a sci-fi future where parasitic alien lamprey type creatures exist which have the ability to pilot the infected, able to take over their minds and essentially control them like cars. Like Kozeniewski's previous collection, each of these four stories includes a lengthy and entertaining forward and afterword shedding light on how he came up with the story ideas. The introduction to the collection states you don't need to have read The Hematophages to be able to enjoy this, and that turned out to be true.

It begins with 'The Blood-Red Lake' which as openers go is a horrific intro to the eel-type nightmare creatures. Set on an Earth in the past; a father and daughter learn all too late just why the lake near their remote home has turned blood red. There wasn't too much to this one, but was almost the most nightmarish. I liked that the afterword mentions classic sci-fi horror video game series - Dead Space, as I am a huge fan of those.
'Derelictus' is next and was the stand-out story. Firstly due it doing that ace framing thing of starting halfway through the story and then heading back to explain how events came to be. Secondly, because events transpired here in a way that reminded me of recurring nightmares I have of being unable to escape a terrible situation. In this one, a strange spaceship is discovered floating apparently abandoned. Someone is sent to investigate the wreck unaware of the pure Hell they are about to enter. I enjoyed the first person presentation of this tale.

At the halfway point and next is 'Blackfish' that tells the story of a woman locked in quarantine after a visit to an alien spacecraft. I liked the build-up to this, though the shock reveal didn't really resonate with me much. It was similar in tone to 'Derelictus' and while harrowing also, it wasn't quite as harrowing. It was interesting to read in the notes for this that it had been envisioned as a sci-fi take on the classic werewolf concept.
Finally is 'Gerstein', which was an original short written for the collection. This was a Gothic mad doctor story, albeit it, one set in space within a hollowed out asteroid. It shouldn't have worked, but strangely, it did. It features an unlikeable jobsworth who has travelled to a space station in order to repossess it for the company she works for. Instead, she discovers that maybe she shouldn't have been so flippant with agreeing to the terms of the quarantine orders the head scientist at the station made her sign before entering. I liked the idea of this hollowed out asteroid appearing like a Gothic castle, that was a neat touch.

With that, the brief collection was over. Despite not having read The Hematophages, I liked the short stories here, and once again found all the added details as to the inspiration for them extremely interesting. For those needing a small injection of sci-fi horror, look no further than The Hematophages: Splatterings, which released on 16th March.

SCORE:

The Infestation at Ralls Hall (2013) by Thomas Tessier - Short Horror Story Review

Another really old review of something I should have simply read a long long time ago! Back in 2014, I received a press release about an anthology horror film titled Thomas Tessier's World of Hurt. This was to feature five stories from the author's short stories he had written. Two of those stories included were to be I Remember Me, and The Infestation at Ralls Hall, which I was sent eBook copies of to check out. To be fair, the email I was sent did say to read '...whenever you can...'. So I sat down yesterday (at time of typing but at the time of publishing a long time back) and spent a quarter of an hour reading the latter of the two.

Returning to England, Van Helsing has been asked to stop of at Ralls, where a girl's school is located. One of the students; Miss Emily, has had something strange happen to her. Some days previously, she alleges to have been attacked in her bedroom one night. In the time since she has grown heavily pregnant as if she had been with child for six months or so. Van Helsing suspects something unnatural has occurred.

Originally featured in the 2013 short story collection; Remorseless: Tales of Cruelty, this 24 page story was a period piece, being set in and around the time of Bram Stoker's Dracula (I would imagine). The story covers a lot of ground in a short time, throwing the protagonist into the story as if he were someone we were already familiar with. From the initial investigation, to the later more action packed scenes, this tells the story competently and without seeming like anything has been lost for pacing issues. Throughout, formal language is used, both with how characters speak and with the descriptions used.

A neat little story that deals with an unexpected antagonist threat, blended in with elements of demonic possession and some quite graphic moments. The writing style had me fooled that The Infestation at Ralls Hall was an older story than it actually was.

SCORE:

Second Chance: An End Storm Short Story (2013) by Maz Marik - Horror Short Story Review

I had an inkling that I had another End Storm short story waiting to be read for review at the culmination of my 13 year trek to read the other short story I had; The Gathering. This second story, again by Maz Marik is Second Chance. This one too runs parallel to the early events of End Storm, and feels like a side story to the first short, with it showing events immediately before and after that one.

Homeless petty criminal Kyle has once again been arrested for shoplifting, and has been taken to Crawly Police Station where he is well known. He isn't too upset as he knows he will at least get a warm cell and a hot meal. A terrible unexplained event occurs in London, the news of which puts the police into a panic. With more important things to worry about, they release Kyle. Outside he bumps into a friend, and together they head to a storage unit to hide from the chaos that has now reached the town and caused much of the population there to turn inexplicably manically violent. Spotted by other non-infected, their numbers are soon swelled, with some of the survivors deciding to head out and find supplies, with the aim to then retreat out to the countryside where it is hoped there will be less crazies. One of these survivors is Alice, who heads off to the events of The Gathering, while others decide to head on over to a nearby mall.

This was another enjoyable story, though felt a bit surplus to requirements - not really doing anything different from the first short, other than to introduce new characters (who again are most likely side characters from the main novel). I did like Kyle, his story was only the focus for the beginning, but it was a neat introduction to how the emergency services were responding to the mayhem. The sub plot of the police was may favourite, the only issue being a character who was assumed to have died, only for him to pop up again in a near identical scene where this time he is actually finished off.

With the infected having less of a central presence, the horror and violence of their actions was much reduced. Still did not make me once wish that I was going through this particular zombie apocalypse. Second Chance didn't really do anything too different, while I did enjoy reading this, I also got a little sense of déjá vu.

SCORE:

The Gathering: An End Storm Short Story (2012) by Maz Marik - Horror Short Story Review

My huge eBook mountain of shame began back in 2012 when unfortunate British author - Maz Marik approached me with a request to review his zombie-like horror novel; End Storm. This was the very first eBook I ever reviewed on this (at the time) relatively new site. I'm sure I likely assured the author a quick turn around on reading his novel, but in the end it took me nine months to read and a few understandably less than happy emails from him. At the same time I was sent the novel, he also sent me a few short stories that were set in the same universe. Some 13 years later, I have finally got around to reading those, starting with The Gathering.

This short story takes place at the same time as the opening chapters of End Storm, and features a couple of characters who I assume were minor ones in that novel. That novel isn't required reading here, though would still likely be beneficial to read prior or after this one. In the novel and unexplained event happened where 'the sky fell', a series of very strange weather phenomenon's originating over London led to much of the U.K population collapsing, before awakening as much more feral and violent people, Hell bent on killing anyone who wasn't like them. The Gathering has two plot going on. Mr. Shah is out shopping at the local mall in Crawly when the world falls apart. Initially hiding out in a photo booth, he emerges onto the street where he finds a young woman; Alice, who tells him that her and a small group of survivors are hiding out nearby, and that she is on a mission to get supplies so that they can all head out to the country where it is hoped they will be safe from the murderous hordes. Elsewhere, teenager James and his father are in their car sitting in traffic when it all kicks off. With James falling ill, his father plans to carry him to a nearby hospital to get assistance.

Even for me and my glacial speed of reading, it was very shameful that it has taken me over a decade to get around to reading a story that was literally finished within 15 minutes of starting it! I have read countless zombie stories that take place during the initial outbreak, but it never gets any less exciting to read, and that remains the case here. Rather than being rotting corpses, the antagonists here are zombie adjacent, the infected(?) having more in common with the anger filled souls of David Moody's Hater series. They are described as monstrous, but this is more with how they act than actual physical changes. They work together in groups to hunt down and kill anyone not like themselves. This is described in grim detail, one such scene involving a group breaking into a home, throwing a teenage girl out of the upstairs window, before descending on her and ripping her apart limb from limb! Gory stuff that was a thrill to read.

The Gathering was a decent short story, no real surprises to be found, but was still a fun read, and a decent introduction to the horrifically dark world of End Storm. I believe I have a second short story from Marik to read also, so a review of that will follow at some point in the near future I'm sure.

SCORE:

I Remember Me (2000) by Thomas Tessier - Horror Short Story Review

First published in the 2000 anthology; Ghost Music and Other Tales, I Remember Me is the second of two Thomas Tessier short stories I was sent to read back in 2014 (and the first for me to put into a post). This very strange story told a nightmarish tale within a strange alternate Earth.

In a modern New York, a man attempts to head back home to his apartment. This is a task made much harder due to a memory loss causing pandemic that has swept the world. Dubbed 'The Flu', this disease causes intense memory loss, not just key information such as names and addresses, but even down to the basic, such as how to cook food. With much of the population infected, it has caused no end of issues, with even the doctors trying to find a cure, hampered by their own memory loss. It has led to a transient world where fake I.Ds are in full rotation, and people seemingly on a whim decide what their names are and what property they own.

There was a horrifying free-form feel to the world of the story, one that the characters within are none the wiser to. The protagonist here is aimless, drifting from life to life, unsure if he is married, or where he lives. For him nothing is really different thanks to his supreme memory loss, but from afar it appears a dystopian Hell-scape. Over the course of the story, our protagonist takes on a variety of names and identities, moving from location to location without even being aware of the changes taking place.

This is a world that seems on the brink of societal collapse. Roving gangs stealing the identities of victims, safe in the knowledge they likely won't even remember being robbed. Entire countries losing contact with each other, food shortages due to farmers forgetting to plant crops. A bewildering out of step world that is somehow screeching on.

I Remember Me was unique in that it is only from the distance of reading the story that the pure horror of this world is apparent, the characters all too deeply entwined with it to be aware of that fact. Dizzying and inventive, this is one story that I feel will stick in the mind for a good while. 

SCORE:

Shadow Castes: Book 1 - Aspects (2011) by Scott Harper - Horror Novel Book Review

I received the eBook version of author Scott Harper's Shadow Castes: Book 1 - Aspects way back in 2012. Once again, to my shame I have only just this moment (at time of writing) finished reading it. As can be gathered from the novel's title, this is the first book in a series (and from what I could find on the net, a sequel has yet to be released). Unlike other books of Harpers I have read, such as Predators or Prey? and Necromancer, this is purely the start of an ongoing story, rather than present a self contained story, it very much sets up future events with no real resolution to anything.

Felix is a tormented man. He is forced to live away from society in a remote woodland home due to being a werewolf. His daily struggle to control his wolf side is interrupted by the arrival of a beautiful woman; Nephele. She tells Felix that she travels the world seeking to help werewolves deal with their condition - being a werewolf herself who has discovered a way to co-exist with the beast within.
Elsewhere, psychic vampire Eugene lives in his Gothic mansion with his spirit guide; Charlotte. They want nothing more than to find a way to make Charlotte's form solid, as the pair are in love and want to be able to be together. A less noble psychic vampire named Drake is on the loose nearby, getting joy out of tormenting his victims.
Finally, there is the hunter; a tormented man living on the edge, determined to hunt and kill werewolves, due to his wife and unborn child being killed by one in the past. He teams up with a determined young woman after evidence of a werewolf pack hunting in the city is discovered.

Shadow Castes is a mixture of romance and horror. With the exception of the dastardly Drake, each of the subplots going on is made up of a male and female character either in love, or falling in love. Having read previous books of the author, I have come to expect his reluctance to make his female characters anything but flawlessly beautiful. Nephele is the chief of these characters, spending the majority of the novel naked, with a few sex scenes peppered in. I often state werewolves are my least favourite monster, but here at least things felt a little different. Werewolves here aren't people who literally transform into wolves, but the spirit of the wolf contained within them is able to manifest in a solid 'shell' that encapsulates the host.
The werewolf part was the main story in the novel, second in line was the hunter's story. I liked that this character initially appears as an antagonist figure, before vanishing for much of the middle of the novel. The next time he reappears there is more context provided that suggests he has good reason to do what he does. Then there is the Ying and Yang of Drake and Eugene. The former is notably cruel and horrid. Eugene on the other hand seemed completely wasted here. He spends the entire novel in his mansion not really doing anything of note at all.
Being the first book in a planned series, you could forgive the lack of much forward momentum in the story, but it would have been nice for all the various characters to at least be aware of each other by stories end.

Action is kept to a minimum here. There are moments of high action, but mostly each of the subplots have lots of romance and talking, but not much threat. This was well written and felt brisk with its 239 pages.
The preference for attractive flawless women works better with a novel that I feel is likely intended to include romance and horror both, and there is an adequate blend of the two genres here.

Never judge a book by its cover. With Shadow Castes: Book 1 - Aspects, I expected this to be romantic drivel, based on cover alone. To be fair, I enjoyed reading this, and I was surprised that the werewolves here were not irritating to me. Ending on a decent cliff-hanger (that may never be resolved), this was a decent start to a series, even if I did wish it contained a full story, alongside the beginnings of one.

SCORE:

Cedar Mills (2025) by Dylan James - Horror Novel Review

I received an eBook version of Dylan James' Cedar Mills back in June of last year, and at the time of typing I have just finished reading it. That may seem like a long time, but with my reading pile of shame as bulky as it is, that for me was actually lightning fast, though, obviously nothing to be proud of. I am getting as much reading done as I had hoped on my relaxing visit to Australia to visit family.

Back in the late 1990s, a biker witnesses his gang being torn to shreds by a monstrous creature out at an abandoned mill near the sleepy town of Cedar Mills. In present day, wanting to write an article about the history of the town for his school yearbook (and choosing this mostly forgotten event), a high school student heads out to the area to take some photos. This proves to be fateful, with the boy's last photo taken before he is abruptly killed being of that same creature that was reported about all those years ago. The town sheriff who was investigating this death has the case taken off her by a shady branch of the government, but not before she had recruited a disgraced former detective, now P.I - Tom, to investigate the case off the books. With the government covering up the death, Tom reaches out to the murdered boys friends - high schoolers Jake Evans, DeShawn, Angela, and Alexis, with an offer to tell them what he thinks really happened to their friend. Before much information can be traded however, they are ambushed by agents who had been following Tom, and they are forced to go on the run, as the agents are determined to hide the truth at any cost.

Cedar Mills started off coming across like a Stephen King type of small town horror. This is the type of town where everyone knows everyone else, and gossip spreads rapidly. From the thrilling prologue set in the 90s, events get moving rapidly. I figured the pacing of the story would see Tom and friends investigating the strange goings on in the town in a Stranger Things type of fashion. Instead, the novel is roughly split into three distinct parts. The early small town horror transitions into more of a road trip story, before coming together for an action packed third act that is pure creature feature horror. The story went to some unexpected places, with the story getting more wild than I imagined. I can't say I thought too much of the epilogue, mainly due to the rather abrupt cliff-hanger ending.

There were a lot of grim moments here. The creature itself is very deadly, a green reptilian type of huge monster with blade-like appendages for arms. The scenes of it killing victims were all very exciting, especially with how powerful it is. More detestable for me were the three government agents. Led by the psychotic Hives, they appear in some of the more miserable parts of the book. There even came a point where I had to take a break from reading - too much bad stuff were happening to likeable protagonists and likeable side characters alike! Despite a lot of the main characters being teens, they don't escape without harm. The story kept me going, as well as my assumption that these horrible agents would eventually get their comeuppance! 

Throughout Cedar Mills, I really struggled to put the book down. The short chapters and unfolding story over the 313 pages, kept me glued to the pages. I was a huge fan of where the story ended up going. Not that I haven't seen that type of thing done before, but I wasn't expecting that direction in this particular novel. Well written, action packed, and with a likeable collection of characters, I had a great time reading Cedar Mills, it did little wrong.

SCORE:

Zombie Maelstrom (2014) by Bryan Cassiday - Horror Book Review

Bryan Cassiday's Zombie Apocalypse: The Chad Halverson Series is one of the most action packed zombie sagas I have read to date. I've so far approached the series in a strange order. Starting with book 7 - Cutthroat Express, before heading to book 6; Horde, and then late last year reading the latest novel, book 8 - Purge. Following on from that latest review, the author asked if I wanted to see where it all began, and sent me the first book, 2014's Zombie Maelstrom. After a two day speed run (for me anyway who is typically a very slow reader!), I have finished this first book, and it did not disappoint.

The world is in a bit of a state, there have been multiple reports of a strange new virus coming out of China which is able to reanimate the dead and has started to spread around the world. A lot of those details have been kept secret, though as a CIA agent, Chad Halverson has been briefed on those. The deadly virus has yet to reach the U.S.A and it is hoped that will long continue. After his brother, Dan, is involved in a serious car accident, Chad is enroute to L.A via plane to visit him. As the plane nears the L.A airport, the crew and passengers alike notice a strange yellow smog covering the whole area. The pilot informs the 200 passengers that he has been unable to raise the tower, and that he is going to have to perform an emergency landing without their help. Landing mostly intact, everyone evacuates the plane only to be surprised there is no help awaiting them on the runway, in fact, the entire area appears deserted, as much as can be made out in the thick smog. Taking charge, the captain, Roger, leads the group to the terminal, noticing that something bad seems to be going on in the air traffic control tower. Fearing a terrorist attack is responsible for the airport being deserted, Roger leads a group of armed volunteers to the tower. It is here the terrible discovery is made; the virus has reached America, and the airport, and at least L.A has become infested with the walking dead.

Cassiday's series is always insane with crazy event after crazy event forever tying to one-up themselves. It isn't much of a surprise then to see the novel pretty much open with the plane's emergency landing. It was cool to see that even from the very first pages, this series was firing on all cylinders. From the first page to the last, the action virtually never lets up. For me, it was neat to see Halverson (however briefly) operating in a world before the apocalypse had began. The smog obscuring everything made a great introduction to readers and characters alike to the dead new world. It is actually 40 pages before the first zombie is seen on page, and from this point their inclusion is relentless, barely a page going by without more of the rotting rotters trying to feast on the hapless protagonists flesh.

The story here is simple, with the events of the nearly 300 page novel taking place over just a day or two, as it charts the destruction of the 200 strong cast until it is just a handful of survivors. The novel is roughly split into three sections, the initial discovery at the airport, a doomed siege at a nearby restaurant, and then the road trip to try and escape the overrun city.
The undead are an insatiable constant threat, driven wild with blood-lust, traditional George Romero type ghouls who are slow moving and can only be stopped by destroying the brain. Chad is as awesome a protagonist as ever, even at this early stage he took to zombie killing like a fish to water, and a good portrayal of his internal struggles as he is made to deal with hard situations, such as not knowing for sure if someone bitten will definitely become a ghoul.
Roger, Tom, Rosie, and Mildred among others never had too much to them, Roger's gradual crumbling under pressure of being in charge was shown well, and detestable bank manager Lemens was fun to hate.
The plot is carried along by 51 short and snappy chapters, often ending on a mini cliffhanger designed to keep you reading on. Many of these chapters ended in the same way, often with the arrival of more zombies, or the sound of panic from off-page. The third act ramps up the action for a chaotic finale, even if it did seem a bit odd how quickly a self made militia rose up and claimed L.A for themselves!

It may just be constant undead battling from beginning to end, but I often struggled to be able to put Zombie Maelstrom down. I was hooked following Chad and the other survivors journey, and seeing what crazy event would happen next. A blistering start to Bryan Cassiday's Chad Halverson series - blood soaked popcorn for the brain.

SCORE:

Yes, I am a Vampire (2024) - by Stephen Kozeniewski - Horror Short Story Collection

In anticipation of getting a lot of reading done on a (so far) relaxing holiday to visit family in Australia I was sorting out my back log of shame. I have some books dating back to around 2014, including one from Stephen Kozeniewski (The Thing Under Your Bed) which to my embarrassment I noticed wasn't in a format that I'm able to use on my Kindle. It's a shame, as my favourite story in this short story collection (previously I would have called this an anthology but the author spells out the difference of that and collections here) is based in that book's world (that book being Braineater Jones) and it sounds like a grand world indeed. Anyway, Yes, I am a Vampire isn't quite as old as that book, receiving the eBook at the end of 2024. I guess that makes this quite a speedy turnaround!

Yes, I am a Vampire is a horror collection with a difference. From the title alone I imagined this to be an anthology collection of short vampire stories (doing my usual thing of barely skimming the synopsis of anything I am sent so as not to be spoiled on the contents). Not only is it the collected short works of Kozeniewski from 2013-2016, it is also half an autobiography. Each of the 12 short stories is followed by a lengthy afterword which not only talks about the inspiration for the story, but also goes into details of what was going on in the author's life at the time some of these were quite frank. For this review, I will follow a similar format, giving some unwanted and self indulgent background on where I was and what I was doing as I read these stories.

It all begins with microfiction piece 'Clockwork Offal', a one page story that at first went over my head, but each subsequent read it dawned on me more and more the horror being suggested. The afterword is where it became apparant that Kozeniewski really was dedicating half of this book on writing about his own trials and tribulations with getting his work published. He mentioned Braineater Jones here, and that sparked a memory that I thought I had a copy of this sitting in an email somewhere waiting to be read (as stated, I kind of did, but I hadn't bothered to check if it worked at the time). 

'The Thing Under The Bed' is next. I had previously reviewed the novella The Thing Under Your Bed, and almost skipped this one thinking it was just a repeat. Glad I did read this as it was a completely different and much shorter version of that neat story. Some of the awkwardly placed England references (this being set in London) are explained in the afterword, and it was there where Brian Keene's The Rising and City of the Dead is mentioned. I have fond memories of those two books, being some of the first zombie novels I ever read (the talking zombie lion at the zoo is forever burned into the undead appreciation part of my brain).

As may be apparent from this blog's name, zombies are by far my most favourite type of horror monster, so it was pleasing to see so many of the short stories here to feature the undead. The first of these was the crassly titled 'Exploding Sh*t Zombies' that as its title suggests, is one of the more grim zombie apocalypses. Many of the short stories in this collection are taken from the author's novels, this being one of those. I thought this story had a fun bait and switch at the start and was quite humourous. I was (very) indirectly mentioned in the notes for this one when Kozeniewski mentions sending his novel Braineater Jones off to a horde of various bloggers and reviewers back when it was first written.
This was the start of a bunch of undead tales, 'The New Dark Ages' was a bleak and grim one, starting off as a fantasy, before being revealed to actually be a Dungeons & Dragons game that a group of friends hiding out from an undead uprising were playing, before the rug pull of something far more twisted. The author in the notes mentions the cover for the anthology this one was originally published in was quite ugly. Having Googled the cover image; yup, it sure was a hideous cover!
'The Man With Four Scars' was a great story, a zombie story but one that takes place during caveman times. I have never read anything similar before, and having the story told from the perspective of a prehistoric human with his own way of talking and describing things was fascinating. I read this one in two parts, having crashed after drinking two strong cups of coffee in a row. The most exciting part of this somewhat haunting story picked up immediately from where I had paused reading, so I demolished this story upon getting back to it.

That brings me up to almost present day (at time of typing). The rest of the collection I read in the span of a day while out on holiday in Australia (where I will be until the end of March). I tried to read 'The Key to the Stars' back in the U.K while my best friend was staying at my house. I couldn't recall a word when I returned to it, so began again. I thought this was a charming story, and one of the most light hearted ones. A sci-fi story about a girl who encounters a holographic projection of an alien in the 1950's. It mixes this story with a real account of an alien encounter to wonderful effect. For me 'The Old Man and the Seesaw' was the highlight of this short story collection. Set in the Braineater Jones world, it is another that shows imagination, the titular 'old man' referring to a zombie fetus whose fortunate early immersion in an alcoholic based preserving formula led to it being one of the oldest surviving zombies in that alternate world where sentient undead have emerged who require alcohol to keep their faculties. The notes for this one particularly resonated to me, the authors hopes to one day be able to write full time and not need to have a bill paying day job echoing my desire to one day somehow be able to do the same, but with my blog.
The last zombie story follows with 'Cadaver Bite', showing an unusual form of execution used during a zombie outbreak. I was sat nearby a radio and got engrossed enough in this one that the words being spoken on the radio faded away to nothing for me.
This review is perhaps getting a bit self indulgent and lengthy so will zoom through the last four stories. 'The Quiet Life' is very similar to A Quiet Place, but as the notes afterwards say, this was actually written a few years before that film came out. The final three stories are all single page microfiction stories set around Christmas; 'Traditions', 'A Visit From...' and 'Brightly Shining' were all excellent and twisted in their own ways, a lovely finish to this collection.

I have always had a love of anthologies (well, in this case, collections), so with Yes, I am a Vampire I found yet another one that I enjoyed. Truthfully, there wasn't a short story I didn't like, but there were some that were in my mind much better written than others. I was of course also pleased that so many of these featured zombies, that is never going to be anything other than a positive thing in my mind. The autobiographical part was also very interesting. It challenged my baseless assumptions that all published authors are effortlessly able to get their stories out. 

SCORE:

Black Chaos (2014) by various - Zombie Horror Anthology Book Review

Since the dawn of this blog, books have been a real problem for me, I get through them so slowly that I get a huge backlog that has been going on over a decade. Black Chaos was a zombie anthology that I received all the way back in 2014. I have only just gotten around to reading it last year. I love zombies and I love anthologies, so I figured there couldn't be much in this 25 story anthology that I wouldn't enjoy.

Black Chaos' short stories are each by a different author and are really quite varied. You have historical stories, comedic ones, dystopian and magical. Some have happy endings, some have bad endings, and some have neutral endings where not much has really changed for the central character. It all begins with Lee Clark Zumpe's 'Wild With Hunger', interesting as it takes place back during the industrial revolution. It also takes place from two different perspectives; men who have gone to investigate a den of child zombies at a workhouse, and two non-infected children watching the whole thing. I saw this story as a good indication of the variety that might be found. Second story was also one set in the past, though I didn't enjoy it as much due to its abrupt unsatisfying ending. 'The Southern Wind' by J.Adrian Cook takes place in an alternate history where the South won the civil war in America due to having an army of zombies. 
The more fantastical of the stories here never really resonated with me, often having fairy-tale type vibes to them. I didn't dislike some of these, but they were not my favourite ones of the anthology. These included K.J Newman's 'As You Were', about a painter who can change reality with her paintings. 'Like the Jellyfish' by Katherine Sanger has a similar concept, though in this one it is a small child who has the ability to bring the dead back to life, ending deliciously dark, similar with playground based 'The Staggering Boy' by Douglas Ford; another one featuring a child as the protagonist, with a bleak end.

A bunch of stories featured zombies who were still self aware, best of these was the nightmare dystopian tale 'The Risen', in which Steven Axelrod envisions a future where a zombie apocalypse happened where the undead kept their intelligence and took over the world. It features a very Donald Trump-like character as the president of the zombies, a shame that last part has come real. Peter Andrew's 'Zombie Chic' is also about a world of intelligent zombies, but this one is more condensed, a comedic story of zombies getting body modifications in the name of fashion.
A large chunk of the stories take place in worlds where a worldwide zombie outbreak has occurred, but people are finding a way to deal with it and carry on as relatively normal. 'Ferals Like You' by Cheryl Elaine Williams details a family trip to a superstore that goes very badly, George Cotronis' 'Last Rites' has sentient zombies being given a last car trip before they are put down, Gerri Leen's 'Run for the Roses' is a very odd one about zombie horse racing, while Conor Powers-Smith's 'Only the Lonely', suggests a world where only lonely people become living ghouls.

Some of the stories here were excellent, best of these was the fantastic and super creepy 'Graveyard Slot' by Christopher Keelty. In this one, a cursed video tape leads to viewers getting trapped within the all too real looking footage of a bloody zombie outbreak. J. Rohr's 'Nothing Else Matters' was huge in scope, and replaces undead humans with a giant bug apocalypse - excellent stuff. 'Preservation' by Rebecca Boyle was the goriest story here, about a zombified woman who convinces a robot maker to make her an artificial body once hers starts rotting. 'Carrion Luggage' by Shane Simmons takes an alternate look at voodoo magic, and I really enjoyed the humorous bureaucratic nightmare of 'Expediency', with Paul Lorello providing a tale about a scientist trying to get his patent registered before he turns. One of the more interesting was penultimate story 'The Chosen', taking place aboard a pleasure boat where a group of women all named Jane make Big Brother style video diaries about their time spent out at sea, unable to return to land due to the undead ruling the world.

25 stories is a lot, but many of these were quite short, meaning they were super easy to get through. There were only a couple that were large enough to require chapters, and one that I believe was less than a page in length. Most of the stories were well written, happily there were only two out the lot that I personally didn't enjoy. Black Chaos is a solid zombie anthology, one that often takes a different spin on the undead beasts, rather than your typical outbreak yarn. Black Chaos comes from Big Pulp Publications.

SCORE:

Purge (2025) by Bryan Cassiday - Zombie Horror Novel Review

                              

Purge is the eighth book in the long running Zombie Apocalypse: The Chad Halverson series, and the third that I have read. Confusingly, I started with book seven; Cutthroat Express, before heading backwards to the sixth; Horde. Despite that, I have read enough of this series to recognise how thrilling it is. Purge may well be more of the same, but what glorious same it is! Unavoidable spoilers for previous entries to follow.

After his mission to find a cure for the zombie plague ends in failure, legendary CIA agent; Chad Halverson, returns, alongside Marta Costello, to the government bunker at Mount Weather, where President Mims is situated in order to report back to him. However, the previous book ended with them discovering the President had been assassinated in his office. This one starts with Secretary of State; Dean Uriah coming to the hasty conclusion that Halverson and Costello must have been the ones responsible for his assassination, due to them having failed their mission. Proclaiming himself the new President of the United States, Uriah has the two imprisoned. Halverson suspects that Uriah may have been the one behind the assassination, and with this knowledge, he soon escapes the bunker with Costello in tow. Halverson's plan is to head to the government bunker at Raven Rock and inform the speaker of the house about what has happened, as constitutionally he is next in the line of succession. Costello meanwhile tags along on the provision that on the way to Raven Rock they head into Washington D.C to check on the status of her beloved brother. Their journey is made that much harder not only by a squadron of SEALS who have been dispatched by Uriah to kill the two 'assassins', but also by the High Rolerz USA; a brutal biker gang whose leader Michael K has it in for Halverson after he killed his brother Bobby K.

Purge takes the form of a long road trip, one I wasn't prepared for. I imagined the trip to Raven Rock would be the first part of the novel, instead it is the core plot of this. On paper it doesn't really seem like much happens in this book, but I loved how simple this all was. The subplot of the presidents bunker makes another wonderful return, with the action every now and again heading back to see what the state of the stifling place is. With Mims and the previous President both being crazy in their own ways, it is no surprise that Uriah is equally crackers. Continuing the trend of the lack of air in the bunker, the subplot here mainly revolves around Uriah's solutions to the lack of oxygen. There are also subplots in the form of the SEAL team that has been dispatched, as well as one following the sole survivor of a group of self-flagellators who had been massacred by the High Rolerz who has become obsessed with hunting down Michael K and demanding an apology from him.
What I really liked about the road trip subplots was how the different characters keep going over the same route at different times to each other. It was interesting reading the different accounts of what happened, and how earlier events have affected the route for characters who later on travel down the same roads. As I have came to expect now, Purge ends on yet another ridiculous thrilling cliff-hanger that I was fully on board for.

The book is very easy to digest, this is the book version of any number of brain dead, yet very entertaining zombie films. It features lots of action, gun fights, battles with the undead, and characters restating their aims lest you forget. The zombies here are as gross as ever, I liked the inclusion of details around the various bugs and creatures that infest the undead. On more than one occasion a ghoul is described as having a moustache, before the character seeing it realises it is instead a bunch of maggots! At least one inclusion of a rat crawling out of a still walking undead's mouth. These are traditional slow walking zombies, balanced against a world where all the survivors in their own ways are at least a little bit crazy. Most humans hostile and angry to the hapless protagonists of each of the subplots. Life is cheap in this world, but it is also exciting. 

I knew before reading a single word of Purge that it would be another fantastic entry in the Chad Halverson series. I don't think I would ever get bored of reading these. It might not be Shakespeare, and the story beats can be occasionally predictable (outside of the wild cliff-hangers) but these easy to read, very entertaining, and action packed pulpy novels really scratch that zombie itch. I eagerly await the next in this lovely gory and violent series.

SCORE:

Outbreak: The Mutation (2020) by Scott Shoyer - Zombie Horror Book Review

                                

After my review of the excellent animal based zombie horror novel Outbreak: The Hunger, I realised with some joy that I actually also had a copy of the sequel waiting to be reviewed. Outbreak: The Mutation is the book version of a blockbuster sequel to an indie darling, everything made bigger and more far reaching in scope. I would have been happy with more of the same, but this drastically changes things up. Obviously, spoilers for book one to follow.

It is two years since an outbreak of rabid undead animals spread across (assumedly) the globe. Initially confined to animals, this strange virus made the leap to humans. The survivors have been doing the best they can, able to best the low intelligence zombies, but recently that has began to change, with the undead seeming to be getting smarter, and seemingly able to communicate with each other over long distances. Walt; the manager of a drug rehabilitation centre, is forced to leave his compound with his group after increasing zombie attacks, deciding to head to a remote spring where there will be a continual source of natural water. Elsewhere, soldiers Wilder and Butsko are leading a mission to get to a secret underground laboratory where it is hoped a weapon with the power to defeat the zombies once and for all can be located. Unknown to the humans, the undead have began to evolve, these new more intelligent and more self-healing yellow eyed creatures find themselves drawn to a particular spot in America, following an urge. Little do these three groups realise that they are all heading to the exact same location...

I was well up for some more undead animal mayhem, so the time skip of two years was a little jarring. Zombie animals are still here, but they have been superseded by the more traditional human walking dead. Racking my brain, I really don't recall there being a reason given for the genesis of the outbreak; what actually caused it, in the first novel. Here, it is almost common knowledge that it was all down to malfunctioning nanobots, not some biological virus. These nanobots are able to heal their carriers, and also account for how they are able to transmit data across the country. Seemingly when one zombie learns something key, this spreads across the network. My fears that the uniqueness of the first novel would be diluted or lost were for nought, this might be a different beast, but it carries the supreme inventiveness of what came before. Nanobot infected humans made for something different, and I was not expecting the late stage audacious reveal of the origins of the nanobots.

The world of Outbreak is one of the lesser zombie apocalypses I would like to experience. It feels almost pointless trying to survive with the undead a constant and very dangerous threat from beginning to end. Everywhere they go, no matter how safe it appears, the survivors are in constant danger. Both groups lose a huge amount of the cast of characters, made all the more horrific by the very quick transition from victim to aggressor. The first novel was almost cruel in its violence, and here things carry on in a similar fashion. While not quite as mean spirited and gruesome, there is still room for moments such as characters stumbling across a neonatal intensive care unit full of zombie babies. A lot of the real body horror comes from the new yellow eyed undead who get joy out of torturing the normal zombies. Of course, this paled in comparison to the animal attacks of the first novel.

It was fun to see some returning characters. Fi, the almost survivor of book one is back as one of the first evolved undead. We get to see this side of the story from her perspective. Wilder and Butsko were side characters last time around, this time they are duel protagonists with Walt and his group. I really enjoyed these characters, very fun to be following legitimate bad-asses around. Walt was fun for a civilian, especially with his memorable nail studded bat which gets put to lots and lots of good use. Both sets of characters get into plenty of desperate last stands.

Outbreak: The Mutation might not have surprised me as much as The Hunger but it was still a damn exciting book. I would give my left leg to be able to craft such a darn entertaining zombie novel. This is full of horror and rotting corpses from start to finish, and I enjoyed how the disparate storylines ended up linking together. Well worth a read, a fine series of novels.

SCORE:

Millionaires Day (2024) by Kit Power - Thriller Novella Review

My quest to make more of an effort to get through my vast backlog of book requests was helped by the next book I chose; Kit Power's Millionaires Day being a novella. The story here is based in Milton Keynes, UK, a surreal choice for me as that is pretty much the next town (while it has recently been made a city, it will always be a town to me) over from my own!

One day in 2019 (according to the synopsis), everyone in the UK woke up with a million pounds in cash under wherever they happen to have been sleeping. This novella charts the effects this has on the population by following a random selection of people from Milton Keynes. There is a neglected girl (Emma) with an imaginary friend who believes the money was a gift from Santa. A homeless man (Henry) with the desperate hope of re-starting his life somewhere else, a policeman struggling to deal with the unfolding chaos, and Pete; a lowlife criminal whose gang leader - Mental Mickey, enacts a plan to steal as much money as his gang are able to.

I always try and avoid reading the synopsis for anything I am going to read/watch on this blog. For me, I didn't expect things here to go as south quickly as they do. From the novella, it was never obvious that this weird event had occurred countrywide, it didn't even really feel like it had happened to many of the people in MK. With the almost supernaturally thick fog coating the town, this created a feeling of this particular set of characters having inadvertently stumbled into The Twilight Zone. I couldn't shake my thoughts of this, but it added to my enjoyment. The book is split into (if my memory serves me correct) three distinct parts, each part taking place over a different hour. Each part is then split into chapters, with the chapters being titled with the specific timeframe they are happening in. While the many protagonists don't know each other, there are some wonderfully timed moments in the story where by pure chance, the paths of all the protagonists cross. I loved seeing the same event play out from different perspectives, each viewpoint having a narrow reaction, based only on the information the particular character would have had.

I have been to Milton Keynes many many times. Reading this made me realise that I had never really travelled anywhere in that (to my eyes) clean but soulless city, as I was never reminded of my experiences of that place. This version of the city is grimy and crooked, decrepit apartment blocks and dirty back alleys, of characters either corrupted or prey, and there isn't a lot of happy outcomes for many of these characters who appear. Of the three main plots going on, the homeless man story was almost a prologue, serving to introduce the character of a policeman whose journey would have him heading all over the city. The little girl's storyline is probably the most bleak, with her falling prey to a perverted security guard, and the one based around the gang was the most detailed, likely due to featuring the most characters. This gave the book a bit of a crime caper feel, I liked how it is shown to the reader the various subplots going on within the book. There are some very dark moments here, but this is balanced with the light in what became one of my favourite sections of the novella. There are lengthy paragraphs introduced later on that are first person perspectives of the story told from the viewpoint of a dog! Initially really confusing to read, I eventually settled into a decent pattern. These dog viewpoint sections really did create a fun feel for a simple character whose main drive is to be called a 'good dog'!

I loved this novella, especially with the story taking place so close to my doorstep. I enjoyed the more potentially supernatural elements here, and the wide variety of characters and events taking place. The stories occurred in an intelligent way that allowed things to ever move forward without becoming dull, though this isn't a feel good story at its heart, as it delves into the darker side of human greed, and just what lengths some people are prepared to go to, to achieve their desires. Millionaires Day is out now via French Press.

SCORE:

Halloween Girl - Book Three: Gods & Monsters (2025) - Horror Graphic Novel Review

Richard T. Wilson's Halloween Girl series was a comic that I initially had low expectations for, but was something that quickly grew on me the more I read it. Halloween Girl - Book One: Promises to Keep brought together the first seven issues and was a great introduction. Halloween Girl - Book Two: Dead Reckoning was another great entry, especially when it came to the artwork. Due to the second book serving as a prequel though, Halloween Girl - Book Three: Gods & Monsters is a sequel to the story told in book one, and was another darn good read. Unavoidable spoilers for the other book to follow.

Halloween Girl is a series about a ghost called Charlotte and her supernaturally powerful friend Poe. With The Hollow no longer operating (a demonic group who were able to infiltrate the dreams of their victims), things have settled down a bit. Unknown to the pair though, some of The Hollow have found a new leader, bizarrely in the form of a young child named Kevin. Inhabiting the forms of toy figurines in the boy's playset, these beings not only worship Kevin, but are very prepared to go to lethal lengths to make sure his life is a good one. Realising that the boy is not to blame for this, Charlotte and Poe seek a way to convince him that these creatures are not good people, part of this help being to find a way to stop Kevin's abusive father from hurting him anymore.

Spread over four lengthy chapters, this tells a great story, better than I had expected. Despite being a bit murky on the details of book one, I pieced together what had happened there, something that continues to have an effect on Poe. The highlight of the whole graphic novel was again the art of Shahed R. The black and white illustrations are so wonderfully drawn and full of life, very expressive faces on characters which never look over the top, and some amazing shading going on.

I loved the story, and genuinely found the idea of toy figurines possessed by demons to be fantastic. I loved that these toys worshipped Kevin, and there are some strong moments of horror. This story again has a lot of heart to it, being sentimental without being overly so. It deals with death and grief in a mature way, making sure to always have a balance between the darkness and the light.

A great story coupled with great art and shading left me more than happy at what I had read here. It might not satisfy those wanting something more darker and mean spirited, but I always think there is something really uplifting about the stories told in Halloween Girl. Halloween Girl - Book Three: Gods & Monsters released June 3rd from Mad Shelley Comics.

SCORE:

Outbreak: The Hunger (2015) by Scott Shoyer - Zombie Horror Novel Review

Scott Shoyer's Outbreak: The Hunger is yet another book I have had for review for a ridiculously long time, having first received a copy back in 2015. At that time, a girlfriend had agreed to help me get through my backlog and read some books on my behalf. She did actually read this novel but soon after we split up, so I never found out her thoughts on it, unrelated I'm sure! Now, I have finally gotten around to reading this, and boy, I wish I had read this one sooner.

John and his young daughter Fi have gone on their monthly visit to the local zoo near where they live in Texas. This trip feels different than usual, with a weird atmosphere at the place. Many of the zoo exhibits appear to be empty, with the animals that are still there behaving very aggressively. John almost decides to cut the trip short when a nervous young man is witnessed being roughly detained by a group of soldiers, but his daughters love for the train that runs around the zoo has John agreeing to ride it with her before they leave. This turns out to be a terrible mistake as staff and passengers alike come under attack from vicious animals. In the unfolding carnage the train derails, John, Fi, and a small group of other families survive, and decide to follow the track back to the zoo. They soon discover that they are being stalked from the shadows by the animals, who are not done with the group yet.
Elsewhere, the survivor of a violent animal attack at an animal rescue shelter is taken to a secure facility by the army, with it revealed that animals had escaped from a government lab, caused a localised outbreak, and that this survivor is patient zero - the first human to be infected by whatever disease or virus has affected the animals so dangerously.

This is a sick book, and for those who aren't on board for a whole lot of animals attacking both adults and children in violent and sickening detail, you might want to get off the train now! There is a cruelness here, with the book often seeming to go into unneeded excessive descriptions of the violence being inflicted. That is not to say I didn't like The Hunger, instead, I thought this was a great novel that really did do something different than the traditional zombie story. Firstly, I thought it was a neat idea to have the whole novel just tell the story of the initial outbreak, before the infection had even spread to humans. There are a few human-like infected here, but mainly just in the more traditional patient zero based subplot rolling on in the background. The zombie animals act very different, even to other zombie animals that have appeared in other books. These ones are as a unit extremely deadly and also extremely fast. The initial attacks are so swift that characters aren't even sure of what is happening, and the animals have some odd behaviour, such as occasionally being found all passed out rather than moving around. These animals also exhibit an intelligence that is frightening to see. Far from acting like dumb creatures, these infected appear to be able to work together and make plans, such as automatically going after any human who appears to be trying to use their phone to contact the outside world.

The infected animals are the ghastly stars of the show, and being set in and around a zoo there are excuses for why there are a large assortment of these creatures. Everything from tigers, lions, and bears to goats, meercats and wolves. They attack in explicit detail with victim's body parts being ripped off and chewed up, again, especially distressing when it is happening to young children!
John, generic name aside, made for an engaging protagonist. The backstory of him surviving a dog attack as a child explains why he is able to lead the group, while his worsening vision, due to forgetting the eye drops needed after a recent operation on his eye, gives a sense of bigger danger. His determination to protect his daughter is well realised, and really there wasn't much bad about this part of the novel. The subplot was less interesting only due to secret army bases and experiments on infected being so part and parcel of the zombie genre. Occasionally the novel gets a bit carried away, with a few chapters, especially near the end, which seemed to just be there to pad out the length of the book rather than add anything new. Some of these mini-stories of characters meeting their end were worth reading. I loved the really cruel chapter that saw a man trying to find his children, unaware that not only were they already dead, but that unknown to him he had sustained a fatal wound himself. This just exemplified the jet black humour that would sometimes pop up.

I loved Outbreak: The Hunger, it genuinely hooked me, but at the same time, I sometimes had to take breaks due to the misery and horror of the story. This sets itself apart from other zombie novels by taking a wild deviation to the tried and tested expectations, but towards the end especially it had some twists that I would hardly say I didn't see coming from a mile away. This was the first in a planned trilogy, with a quick Google search revealing the other books in the series are now written and out, I may have to check those out on day (turns out I also have the second book awaiting review on my heap of shame).

SCORE: