Review: A Brit Zombie Novel - Good value for money
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 10, 2013
Brit zombie books are always rather quaint largely on account of the fact that Blairist Britain is effectively disarmed and immersed in a self-satisfied glow of political correctness.  Survival violence is thus not exactly a practiced art and always creates a tingly sensation when pudgy middle-class EuroBrits set off to inflict some Old Skool Ultrabiff on the zeds. This $1.50 bargain special is no exception. To be honest, you have to take it on face value and read it for what it is.Pros:1. A generally fast-moving yarn with many and well-linked scene changes.  (But see 1. under Cons below.)2. The UK-USA scene transfer is an interesting touch.3. Funny old Zeds - these are not your usual Genus Zombicius.  (It must be hard coming up with a fresh take on them but this one works okay.)4. Irresistible value-for-money.  Cheap as chips, so you place nothing at risk.Cons:1. Too many passive verbs make for slow passages of text. At times it reads like a sales rep's report to the boss or a stilted academic working paper.2. Characters aren't really developed. Each are thus very thin and interchangeable: they all tend to speak and act the same.  Classic Lego Block People. Wifey Janet is especially bad in this regard, I really wanted her to step up and stand out...but no.3. The author's obviously a Brit trying to use American speech.  I found myself looking for the next Just A Minute hit-the-buzzer boo-boo: curtains for drapes, tins for cans, taps for faucets..that sort of thing.Suspend Reality Mr Spock:1. A middle class EuroBrit is more or less instantly able to pull off headshots on running zeds with a Glock 17 handgun.  Yeah. Well. No. Fine.2. A disparate group is able to board a trans-Atlantic airliner more or less by simply pitching up and walking through the door.3. Flight crew can take off from Gatwick on their own authority.  A plot convenience with its tongue well and truly in its cheek.4. A tactical nuke leaves no radiation footprint. Hmmm.  Okay.  If you say so Mr Wizard.All in all I gave it 4-stars for its Pros and chump-change price.