Review: Gritty, raw  and unsentimental.  Reality bites - hard.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 19, 2014
I liked and got hooked by this zombie thriller right from the first page and it kept me fully engaged right to the last.I can understand why some reviewers weren't taken by the polarizing lead character but for me Derek Grace worked.  I could see him and share his insights.Our Derek's an embittered, cynical middle-aged individual who's lost his grip on the management-class American ladder and happens to be in Kansas City for a job interview when zombie hell breaks out.  His links to a loveless spouse and young adult children are already frayed and he's considering cutting ties and moving to KC if he lands the job when....whoops! the dead start to reanimate.  One part of him wants to cut away and let his family go, the other says he should make an effort to find them...even though he strongly suspects they've all gone The Way of the Zombie.Yielding to force of circumstances he buddies up with a chance acquaintance and gets out of KC.  Very soon a hard ruthless edge emerges to his character as he unwraps a side to his psyche which has perhaps always been there.  Against his will he's drawn into the ambit of a fluid and morally realist post-apoc community...and that's when the fun and games really begin.Likes:1. A highly relatable lead character with depth and credibility.  Ordinary guys with dark streaks like Derek Grace populate every community, it's just that "normal times" drapes them in invisibility cloaks.  Derek is an ace character.  He's not particularly likeable, but he's real.  Really, really real.2. Excellent writing.  Well polished and packed with evocative dialog, scene descriptions and shafts of real-life insight. Loved it.3. The zombies and their human counterparts sing and dance on the pages.  Credible.  There's a lot of action to like.4. Fast moving and coherent story line.  It never chugs and I found it hard to stop reading once I started...you just wanna keep going.5. Strong measure of suspense.  It's worlds away from the usual Run-'n-Gun zombie outbreak survivor yarn.  Derek Grace finds himself in one of those Kafkaesque games where all hats are grey and the rules aren't clear...and he has no hesitation in making some of them up to suit himself.  This is a...if not the...major attraction in the story.So Why No Five Stars?:1. Five stars means a near perfect/outstanding book...let's be clear on that score.2. I would like to have seen Derek Grace become more definitively cynical and hard-shelled as the story unfolded.  I guess the nearest model I can come up with is Harry Flashman - a guy who knows exactly who he is and ruthlessly works angles and opportunities to further his own self-interests.  There were times when I thought Derek should stop being so sentimental and simply go for the gap. To the end, his character remains oddly morally at sixes and sevens as though some fundamental lessons remain as yet unlearned. Please bear in mind this is purely a personal take and isn't really a ping on the book...I guess.3. The action scene-changes bump around a little and there were times when some closer integration would have helped smooth the edges and connections.  This is hard to express and even more difficult to suggest how it could have been done better...more an impression than anything else...so no biggie.I thoroughly enjoyed this book and when Book 2 comes out (as I hope it does soon) I'm gonna be onto it in a heartbeat.