Undead Drive-Thru by Rebecca Besser is an interesting tale unlike other entries in the genre. Instead of legions of the walking dead, there is only one zombie in this story. How can this be?
Opening with an unusual set of circumstances, we are introduced to two of the primary characters featured throughout the entire book, Betty and Sam. Sam arrives home with the evidence that he might have been abducted from an unknown group and has evidence of an injection. This opens a subplot that is not resolved but left as a McGuffin. It’s not really necessary to know the particulars of what happened to Sam, just that he somehow has been exposed purposely to something that changes him.
Move forward two years and Betty has now acquired an old drive thru that has seen far better days. Replying to a help wanted ad, two high school friends, Kyndra and Colleen show up, bright-eyed and expectant at what will be their first job.
Ms. Besser has captured the teenage angst of employment and the emotional response to having a crush on someone perfectly. The interaction between the two girls and the rest of the crew at the drive-thru is accurately described and rich in detail. This lulls the reader into a sense of melancholy. Just when that feeling of complacency starts to set in and the reader is relaxing, Besser hits them with both barrels of full on 12 gauge zombie terror.
Betty now known as Aunt B and her reluctant accomplice/nephew John, crank up the tension when Sam, now a full-fledged member of the reanimated dead gets out of his cage, wanders over to the drive-thru and meets two of the employees. This leads Aunt B to make a snap decision to detain the witnesses in the basement while she thinks about what to do with them. John begins to have strong doubts about his aunt’s mental facilities and makes an attempt to warn off Kyndra now that Colleen is locked up in the basement awaiting her fate.
The plot moves along quite quickly and there is no shortage of gore splatter, action or suspense.
What sets this novella apart from others is the distinct lack of overwhelming hordes of zombies as I mentioned before. It is a well written, tightly woven storyline with characters developed enough to carry the plot and not bogged down with extraneous details. Ms. Besser has created a story that has no need to inject any more zombies than Sam to make it work.
Overall, a well laid out linear flow to the storyline, a tight plot, developed characters and a great thrill to read. An excellent addition to any zombie fan’s library
Available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble
