The Junkie Quatrain by Peter Clines is a collection of four stories that intersect but can be read in any order. Think of ‘Pay it Forward’ meets ‘Pulp Fiction’ then add in zombies, the end of the world and how survivors react to it and you might be able to get a hint of what this is all about.

To give you an idea what you’re in for, the ‘junkies’ in this book are people afflicted and infected with a contagion that in the early stages, removes inhibitions but in the later stages makes extremely violent. And that’s putting it a bit mildly.

In the first story, Holly, a survivor who swings a mean baseball bat, encounters another survivor who looks out of place in the ruins of LA. Holly meet Angie, Angie meet Holly. Angie has no clue how to survive on the meaner streets of LA now that the junkies have taken over. Holly attempts to give her a crash course on extending her life but as they say, events transpire.

While trying to gain entry to a sanctuary, someplace that might actually be secure enough to last the night, Holly finds out that Angie had been bitten which explains why she was tossed out of the sanctuary she had been staying in. Whereas Holly appears to be immune to infection, Angie is not but hasn’t presented with frank symptoms, yet.

As the two are forced to work together, Holly has to make the decision of how long to allow Angie to travel with her before the disease really takes hold. After encountering an armed group, the decision is made. Angie is dead weight and Holly cuts her loose. You could say the ball is out of the park with that decision.

Holly meets Sam at the end of her story and the two decide to travel together.

In the second story, Barney and his crew are contracted foragers for a sanctuary. But, as will occur when the world is overrun with infected, mindless, violent junkies, their information is off just enough to put them on the wrong floor and the wrong room of a building that they are supposed to be searching for medical supplies.

This is where Quilt comes in but more on him later.

Barney and crew end up in a running battle with the junkies and Quilt as one by one they are taken out. Quilt only wants one thing, the item they took from him when they went to the wrong room. During the course of their extraction back to the sanctuary, they encounter Holly and Angie mistaking them for competitors.

Running and gunning in an attempt to make it back, Barney’s crew of salvagers finds out that there are worse things at the end of the world then ravenous zombies.

There is Quilt.

In the third story, we get some detail on who Sam is. Sam infiltrated the same sanctuary that Barney’s crew was working for. After creating havoc within, he escapes and ends up where we first met him at the end of Holly’s story. I’m not giving away what he does or how he does it, you’ll have to read the story for more info.

In the final story, we are introduced to Quilt, a character that harassed and exterminated most of Barney’s forage/salvage crew from story two. Quilt is a person who looks nothing like what you would assume to be a professional killer. He’s a germaphobe for one thing. It’s even possible he has some OCD issues. But what stands out the most is his incredible hand-eye coordination. This unassuming character is a total cold blooded hardcase. Well-armed and motivated to regain possession of an item taken from his secure suite, he has no problem engaging junkies and foragers to get what he wants.

Overall, The Junkie Quatrain was a very enjoyable read. The storylines were intriguing and well developed. A great addition to any zombiephile’s library.

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