Zombie Dawn Outbreak by Michael and Nick Thomas

I do love some good zombie fiction so every once in a while I grab one and check it out.  Most of the time I’m disappointed by the quality of the writing or how much it just basically rips off one of the Romero movies.  While we have some of that here (they do run to the mall in one of the stories) it is much more then that.

The book follows several different characters as the zombie outbreak first happens.  We have a researcher at a facility where it appears that the outbreak starts, though I’m not sure that is the case.  We also have a group of gamers that spend the early hours of the apocalypse sitting around playing a first person shooter and talking over the phone.  In what is one of my favorite story lines there are some friends at a renaissance fair that are all decked out in medieval armor and weapons.  I love how they handle the early hours of the outbreak.  We also have an interesting story of a group of U.S. marines in Afghanistan encountering the zombies.  There are also a couple more characters that we are following, including and cop in England. 

To be honest when I sat down to check this book out I didn’t have very high expectations for it.  I mean I’ve seen so many of these kinds of novels since zombies became hip.  But this one is pretty good.  The characters are interesting and seeing how each group deals with the dead coming back to life is sort of fun.  The authors also do a fine job juggling the different story lines, which other then just a couple at the end of the book, don’t tie into each other.  There is a sense of urgency and danger in all the stories as they wisely choose to kill off some characters that look as if they are going to be important players.  This adds a sense of danger that none of them are safe and makes for a much better read.  All in all I’d say this Zombie Dawn Outbreak is a well-written book that is a good time if you dig on zombies. 

If I had an issue with Zombie Dawn Outbreak it was how abruptly it ends.  But then again this is the 1st book in a trilogy, so I suppose that is to be expected.  Though be warned that nothing is resolved and the fates of the characters we have been following aren’t at all determined.  As much as this is a complaint it also makes me very interested in reading the next entry.  So I would say that if that were the goal then mission accomplished.

All in all I’d say this Zombie Dawn Outbreak is a well-written book that is a good time if you dig on zombies.  Take my advice and track down a copy.  Obviously I’m recommending the book!

reviewed by John Shatzer

© Copyright 2011 John Shatzer