It is always a difficult thing to review a book that a friend has written, especially such a close friend like new author Meredith Russell. I have been discussing this book with her since she had the very first idea and have read the final version at the many different stages.
I haven’t seen a lot of zombie movies, or indeed many movies that make me jump. Case in point I spent over half of The Woman In Black behind a pillow.
Dead Things offers us a backdrop of a post virus world where there are, for want of another word, zombies. Creatures who are only have one instinct. The need for food.
When you are used to a certain world and being the top of the food chain, to suddenly be hunted by these monsters is a shock to everything you know.
This is where Dead Things comes into its strengths. Yes there are zombies, yes there is the fear for your life, yes people die. But at the core of it Devin is in a brand new world and he is struggling. He lost everything he held dear, his boyfriend, his life, and he has a sister that is his entire world because she is all he has left. He fights, but he doesn’t have hope.
Then he meets Noah, a man who evidently is immune to the ‘monster’s bite’… and suddenly there is a glimmer of hope where there hadn’t been any before.
The dilemma is, how much humanity must a man lose before he becomes little better than the monsters he is trying to kill.
A stunning world creation and bright vibrant characters, including two kick ass female characters, means that the tiny details of any normality are that much more stark.
There is no insta-love, no whining or crying, or sex every other page. This is a story of two strong men finding each other in a world gone to hell around them.
Recommended for people who enjoy good writing and graphic world building…
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