Review: An outstanding "Zombie" novel
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 17, 2012
In recent years the "Zombie" novels have emerged as an interesting literary genre.  Many of these novels suffer from a monotonous sameness.  The best ones feature good characterizations, some interesting twist on what can become a repetitive theme, and overall good storytelling.  "Cordyceps" is one of these.  I gave it five stars relative to other "Zombie" novels, not relative to Great Literature. First of all, this is not an ordinary "Zombie" story.  The world does not end, and the Zombies are not clones of the ones we all saw in "The Walking Dead."  Without giving anything away, a strange pathogen has evolved an ability to infect humans and induce strange, but scientifically logical (from the parasite's point of view) behavior.  Soon, South Florida, the site of the infection, is cordoned off.  There is an excellent story here with good characterization, interesting scientific speculation, and more besides.  I have read a lot of "Zombie" and "end of the world" novels (i.e. "TEOTWAWKI") and this is one of the truly superior ones.  If you like these stories, this is one of the very best.  RJB.