Review: One of the better examples of how to survive in the Zulu Alpha
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 14, 2014
I think the author did a nice job balancing the whole "precocious semi-genius teenager" protagonist against the very real mistakes that a young and inexperienced person can make. Overall, I found the story to be engaging and credible.As support for my belief, the kid is smart enough to twig to the Frierson family being bad news after they first meet about 1/3 into the book. Having Rick remain outside to cover them with his rifle and making sure to disarm them was well done. It's certainly within the capacity of a bright teenager, particularly one who has an Airborne Ranger as a mentor (who taught him hand signals, firearm handling, etc.).Also, when Zach drives right up to the very obvious ambush laid by Corp Hart and the National Guardsmen, it's still in character. Later in the story he berates himself for thinking he could "charm" his way out of a situation like that. It's best to avoid the situation altogether than to dive headlong into a crappy situation.The zombies are the usual slow movers which is nice. There is a hint that there might be some fast movers but we only hear a story or two about them. Zach examines at least one body to figure out how they are animated and discovers their lymphatic system is engorged. Pertinent? We'll see.There are sufficient harrowing situations where our hero thinks (or fights) his way through that I was kept interested throughout.This is one of the better forays into the zula alpha.