Review: Zombies, land developers and...biscuits?  3.5 stars
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 19, 2013
Old man Delphus and his daughter open up a camp for 'at risk' teenagers on their land, trying to keep the taxman at bay.  A billionaire land developer is looking to buy the land at a steal but Delphus and his daughter are proud.  They don't want to sell.  But, when an infection starts running rampant through the camp, determined corporations will be the least of their worries.  Something's turning the teens into flesh eating monstrosities, nearly impossible to kill.  Will Delphus, his daughter, and camp counselor Jenny survive the night?Take the dark and wooded setting of something like a Friday The 13th and add zombies to it and the result is Meat Camp.  What you get is a fast paced, sometimes funny, gore fest where anybody could die at any given moment.  The writing is fluid, the gore is vivid, the action is unrelenting at times, and the characters are well fleshed out considering the book is on the short side.  Overall it's an entertaining read.Why only a 3.5 then?  Zombie books are all over the place these days and it takes something truly unique to pull away from the rest of the pack.  While fun, Meat Camp felt a bit familiar.  The reason for the infection is never explained, although it's not too hard to figure out what caused it when you read it.  And in typical zombie fashion, people get bit, turn on other people, turn them, people fight, get trapped, do anything they can to put down the undead, wash, rinse, repeat.  Despite some different themes (camp for troubled kids, etc, etc) the book felt a bit 'been there, done that'.  Not entirely a bad thing, but I was expecting something a little different.Still, for fans that gotta have their zombie fix, this should be right up their alley.  I'm not familiar with J.T. Warren, but I know Nicholson's work well, and for fans of his, his fast paced, witty style is in evidence so they should find something to like in this as well.A solid 'good' on this one.