Review: Home of the Dead... and the Undead
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 18, 2014
Before I write this review of Keith Blackmore's longish short story, "The Hospital," I have a confession, actually two confessions. First, I don't usually like zombie stories. I like zombie movies, and I love "The Walking Dead," but I'm generally not too keen on zombie fiction. Confession two: I didn't know "The Hospital" was a zombie story when I got it as a free download. It was on a recommended list; it had some good reviews, so I got it. Having said that, I'm glad I didn't know it was a zombie story because, if I had known, I would have passed on it and missed out on a gruesomely entertaining tale.The general setting of "The Hospital" is typical for zombie fiction. The countryside is overrun by zombies with the handful of remaining humans very much on their own, having to gather food and supplies where they can and keep an eye out for both undead flesh eaters and live killers as well. Gus, the hero of the story, is driving across country, scavenging where he can, when he finds what could be a gold mine... a big city hospital. Gus rather expects to find zombies in the hospital, but he figures he can get in and out with food, medical supplies, and other necessities without running into the zombies.Of course, Gus's plans go awry and he soon finds himself in about as dangerous a situation as possible, but the source (or more precisely sources) of his peril are like nothing he has come across before. I don't intend to give away the exact nature of the menace that Gus faces, but I will say that author Blackmore evokes some imagery that's beyond anything I can recall seeing in a zombie movie, and that Gus finds himself in a situation that is likely to give readers at home the willies.Blackmore has thought out his zombie mythos quite well here. He obeys the general "zombie rules" that George Romero first established in "Night of the Living Dead" and doesn't waste time going into unnecessary explanations of how the zombies came to be. Instead he concentrates on showing Gus's thought processes and reasoning, demonstrating that Gus is intelligent and very disciplined, a man who has developed his own internal survival manual that he follows religiously. But, even in the space of this short a story, readers can see the mental toll the daily horrors have taken on Gus."The Hospital" is a prequel to longer works featuring Gus and the zombies and, as such, it serves its purpose quite well. Gus has the right mix of hardness and inner angst to make a good survival epic hero. Obviously, a story this short only gives us glimpses of Gus's character, but those are enough to, at the least, make me interested in reading more about him.However, "The Hospital" isn't just a teaser introduction to a series of longer books; it is an excellent standalone short horror story. Blackmore establishes Gus, the setting, and the central premise quite well, then provides a series of images that will set most readers' nerves on edge. The story has some pretty graphic gore, but the most terrifying images don't really have that much blood and gore, only the threat of a fate that's about as horrific as anything I've ever read or seen in a zombie tale. Blackmore's "Hospital" isn't a place to set readers at ease; it's a place readers, even non-fans of zombie horror stories, can go to feel most enjoyably uneasy.